No Place Like Home
by Skitzoeinhoven
Summary: X-Files continuation 4 yrs after "I Want to Believe" from William's POV.  It is the year 2012, the year of the Apocalypse.  The weight of the world and humanity's chance of survival rests on the shoulders of this young boy.
1. Who I Am

CHAPTER 1 – Who I Am

BAR NUNN, WYOMING

AUGUST 8TH, 2012 5:32 A.M.

"Will!"

Will's eyes fluttered open then quickly closed as he turned over in his bed. It was still dark in his bedroom.

"Will! Time to get goin'. Chores aren't gonna do themselves." His father said as he ascended the stairs to William's bedroom. His father approached the door and gave a soft knock,

"Son?" He looked around the boy's sci-fi crazed bedroom to find he was talking to his son's backside covered up in a blanket. Not to his surprise, the boy was still asleep. Mr. Van de Kamp grinned to himself as he knelt down beside his bed and started rubbing William's shoulders.

"Son, it's time to get up." No response.

"Mom's made breakfast." Nothing stirred.

"C'mon, I just opened your door. There's no way you still haven't smelt that bacon."

With a groggy muffled voice Will responded, "For once I would love to be like, a normal kid and sleep in on my summer vacation."

"School's not for another couple of weeks though."

"I know, that's my point," said Will as he turned around to face his dad.

"Well, let's get a move on. We got a lot to do", said Mr. Van de Kamp as he gave his son an encouraging pat on the shoulder then exited the bedroom and closed the door.

Will sat up towards the edge of his bed with his eyes closed as he allowed the blood to circulate faster throughout his entire body. While sitting there, he slowly opened his eyes more as he looked around his bedroom.

From the ceiling he saw the Glow-in-the-Dark stars still glowing. He and his father had a blast putting up each and every sticker last year. Dangling from the ceiling was his solar system project that he was very fond of. On his left side he then looked over at the telescope pointing out the window. It wasn't the best telescope in the world, but he managed to recognize a few stars on some nights. Directly across from him was his desk and toy chemistry set. Behind the desk had his posters; one giant glowing alien head, an Albert Einstein with tongue sticking out, and a Constellations Identification chart. On the back of the door, William had hung a body length mirror. He got up and scuffled his feet as he approached the mirror. He groped for the light switch on the wall next to the door and was instantly blinded. From what he could see in the mirror he straightened out his twisted grey shirt and unruffled his flannel pants. After rubbing his eyes for a minute he looked into the mirror and noticed a string of dried spittle caked on his face. He combed his fingers through his bowl-cut brown hair.

_Why couldn't I have been a normal kid and have gone to space camp?_ William thought.

He rubbed the dried spittle off his face as he stared into his baby-blue eyes. He watched his own pupils adjust to the light when he noticed and felt a slight tremor around him.

"William, what in the heck is takin' you so long?" called his father from downstairs. The tremors immediately stopped.

"Well, that was weird," William said as he quickly changed into a pair of comfy jeans. He then grabbed his shoes and proceeded downstairs to breakfast.

* * *

"Mom, Dad?"

"Yeah, son," said Mr. Van de Kamp as everyone at the table helped clean up breakfast.

"I… really want to go to a camp this summer…"

"What kind of camp, honey?" asked his mother who was drying dishes.

"Well… I… really wanted to go to space camp before school started," said Will as he placed his dish in the sink.

"Son, I thought we talked about this," responded his father who was wiping the table.

"But don't I have money saved up in my account from grandma and grandpa or something?" he said while looking at his father.

Mr. Van de Kamp stopped wiping and looked up at Will, "Will, I know this has been something you wanted for a while, but honestly this family can't really afford it right now."

"All we've got," he continued as he pointed outside, "is the farm and whatever God thinks we need at the moment."

Disappointed, Will closed his eyes in frustration and stormed out the house door, not realizing the house was shaking slightly when he left.

"What was that?" Mrs. Van de Kamp asked.

"I think Will was blessed with heavy feet," said Mr. Van de Kamp.

* * *

Frustrated, Will decided to focus his energy with the task at hand, which was raking. There were many grassy hay piles which were blown everywhere from last night's storm. He knew this was something his father would want him to do first.

_Fortunately_, Will thought, _it's just around the shed area._

The Van de Kamp home felt like it was out in the middle of nowhere, with large open fields and a forest along the backside that seemed to give their property the illusion of boundary. The chore took William an hour to gather all the piles together before stopping to rest. He leaned against the rake as he stared at the sun beginning to kiss the ground in which he stood upon. That only meant one thing… it was only going to get hotter from here on. But still, the sunrise was always a sight to see. Will wondered,

_Why would God to create something so painfully beautiful? Is this sight a gift for me? Or is this a sign of things yet to come? Isn't there something more to life than this for me?_

A piece of wood snapped in the distance, which alerted William back to reality and towards the direction of the sound. He thought he heard it by the shed near the woods. He felt the presence of someone or something strangely familiar close by but he couldn't put his finger on it. Like someone was watching him. A strange buzzing from within the woods caused the hairs on his arms to stand on end. Like the sense of home but in a more eerie way. From what his eyes could see, he squinted to hopefully get a better look from where he was standing. His heart started to pound a little harder as he started to walk forward.

"Will!"

William turned around to find his father walking up to greet him. Will turned his head back to the shed and the buzzing and odd feeling immediately went away.

"Yeah Dad."

"Hey, look. Um… I wanted to apologize. I didn't really handle your request too well."

Will searched for his toes because he knew how awkward his father got when it involved money. Will's Dad continued,

"And I know how much this science camp means to you. I… just… need your help a little longer. And, well, I hate disappointing you. I want you to be happy." There was a brief silence between the two and an awkward shuffling of feet.

"So how about this… Let's figure out a game plan. A way for you to get to that camp by next summer…"

"…next summer," Will responded with an audible disappointed murmur, still looking down.

"Hey," said Mr. Van de Kamp as he reached for Will's left shoulder, "it will happen, ok? Don't give up on me now." He took his two calloused fingers to gently lift Will's head up so that he could look into his clear blue eyes,

"I am proud of you. And I know I should say it more often, but you are a blessing from God." Will dropped the rake as they both embraced for a hug. Will's eyes started to tear up as he buried his head into his father's chest. The smell of his father's choice of deodorant and wood permeated to his nostrils, but that was his smell. That was Dad.

"These are tough times, and I have been expecting too much from a… good lord, how old are you now?"

William couldn't help but chuckle to relieve the tension and a single tear fell from his eye. "Eleven"

"Eleven! Holy mackerel! Time flies so fast. I want to believe that you're 16 sometimes. Has anyone ever told you how extremely mature you are for an eleven year old?"

"Precocious, astute, brilliant, nerdy, weird, short…"

"Hey now, let's not get too carried away." They both stood back from each other has William tried to hide his moistened eye. Mr. Van de Kamp looked around the shed area and remarked,

"Not a bad job. I'll take care of the rest. Why don't you go inside, mom wants you to run an errand for her." Will turned around and was about to jog back to the house when his father called out,

"Oh, and one more thing son!"

Will stopped in his tracks to look back at his father.

"Yeah Dad?"

"I love you."

"I love you too Dad."


	2. This Isn't Real

CHAPTER 2 – This Isn't Real

Will hopped onto his bike and headed toward the town grocery store. Dodging trees, feeling the breeze ruffle through his hair and breathe through his shirt; gave Will the essence of flying. Will had to grin to himself as he kicked up a giant dust ball making a sharp left turn towards the main street into town. The ride into town took him about thirty minutes as a bit of sweat dripped from the side of his head. He was so excited to ride his bike into town that he didn't even bothering checking to see how much his mother gave him. Finally arriving to the Mom & Pop Convenient Store; which was actually a converted two-story house with a front porch, William parked his bike against the wooden steps that led to the porch.

Walking into the store, the door's tinny bell gave a brief jingle. He looked around the store and nodded to the cashier as he reached inside his jean pockets pulling out a ball of lint, the cash and the list that his mother gave to get. He looked down at the list and compared it to the amount of money his mother gave to him.

"Yes!" Will said and smiled.

Whenever Will made these solo treks into town his Mom usually gave just a little bit more money for him to buy a trinket or snack; usually a loving gesture and incentive to doing these errands for her. William looked at the bottom of the list which read,

"Thanks for doing this honey. Love you OXOX"

"Thanks mom."

* * *

The grocery sack still in hand he walked out to the front porch to sit in one of the wooden chairs. After sitting down, he placed the bag in between his legs to sift out the items that he got for himself; a Snickers bar and Mountain Dew.

All was still and right with the world as he stared out into the street. All he could hear was the buzzing of bugs and murmur of people gossiping just down the street. He opened the bottle of soda and took a couple of cool bubbly swigs before un-wrapping the candy bar. After a few bites of the candy bar he heard a soft rumbling from down the road.

At first he thought it was thunder, because the sun had receded behind a wall of clouds, but the sound was much lower to the ground. He got up from his chair to look at the sky and then down the road. A train of large black Chevy Blazers and Hummers were barreling their way down the road leaving a cloud of dirt to trail their quick passage. The commotion alerted the rest of the residents inside the stores which brought them outside to see what was going on. The oddity of the vehicles left William feeling very disconcerted because they were not commonly found in a town like this. The odd vehicle train blew past the stores, going three times faster than what was printed on the speed limit sign. The vehicles blazoned past William in the most frightening way. From where he stood on the porch, the gust of wind that trailed behind the trucks nearly knocked him off his feet. While the vehicles' passage did frighten the people around him, the locals remained close to the buildings. William immediately followed the last truck onto the street; he was more concerned about the direction in which the vehicles were rushing to get to.

From where William stood he could see the trucks heading down the road which led to other excursions to peoples' residences. The first road was coming up on the right; the only road that led to his home.

"Please don't turn right, please don't turn right." Will was getting a horrible feeling about this.

_Something's wrong._

The hurried vehicle train made an abrupt turn to the right.

* * *

William could feel the pain in his chest as he desperately tried to breathe while pedaling at what seemed warp speed. He was taking the dangerous short-cuts his mother warned him about getting to the house. He didn't care at this point.

_Mom! Dad! No, no, no… Please, this can't be happening._

The same hair-raising-tingly sensation from back at the shed earlier this morning was starting to come back; this time in full force. The pain in his chest was immediately alleviated.

_What is going on? My feet are still moving? Why am I not out of breath?_

He was no longer out of breath. He continued pedaling as if he had just started this adrenaline-spiked bike run. He smelt a weird kind of smoke billowing out through the woods. Tears started to fall out of his eyes as he busied steering himself away from exposed stumps, hidden holes and familiar bushes. He could just see the clearing while the smoke which led to a dark cloud was getting bigger and bigger.

When he arrived at the house, he could not believe what he was seeing.

A giant black floating air craft about fifty yards long gave off vibrations which had been the source of the buzzing and tremors he had felt all day. It hovered just yards away from his home which was set ablaze. The fires soared ten feet in the air. The property was crawling with what looked like soldiers in black uniforms, setting the property on fire. Each soldier was determined on getting their goal accomplished in a short amount of time, all of whom carried large army sized guns and torches. The tree house he and his father had built was now burning to the ground, the garden his mother had planted every year was decimated, the giant oak tree that birthed beautiful leaves in the fall, all those memories, just obliterated.

Will was starting to feel the ground beneath him shake as his anger and anguish began to overwhelm him.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" William bellowed.

Some soldiers turned to see a young boy run toward them. At first they braced for impact to halt the boy, but an invisible force pushed them out of Will's way as he moved forward.

"DAD! MOM!"

William was blind-sided by a man who grabbed Will and tackled him to the ground. Will blacked out for a second after his head bounced off the ground from the impact. Only slightly winded, William lay on the ground and started to whimper. The guy that tackled Will immediately stood up on his feet and pointed his gun at Will. The soldier stepped back in line with the rest of the firing squad, who also took aim at Will. William took a deep breath and stood up from where he was tackled. His heart was racing and his face became flushed.

"Where are my parents?" he demanded. Will was furious. Dirt was smeared across his face. An energy he never felt before engulfed his body. He was staring into an emotionless crowd.

_~Those people must have been his parents~, ~They're dead~, ~The Tower~, __~They needed to be eliminated~, ~Accomplish the mission~, _William heard simultaneously in his head. From what he saw, nobody's mouth was moving.

"Wha…" Will cried out.

"…They're right you know," interrupted a man from beyond the row of gunmen.

With William's short stature it was difficult to see beyond the wall of men. From what William could see he saw a much older Caucasian man, possibly thirty-five, dressed in a light brown trench coat. Leaning up against one of the Hummers, stood the mysterious man who was nonchalantly watching his house burn.

"What you don't realize is that this location is most ideal for the landing of our… ships." He gave a short chuckle before continuing,

"You know what?" The mysterious man pushed through the line of gunmen to fully expose himself to William. The mystery man's hair was slicked back and his eyes had a cold familiarity.

"I always thought that saying it out-loud sounded too cliché."

_~But then again, William, you don't need me to say anymore. You already know too much.~_

"Shoot him."

So much was happening at once. Will closed his eyes. Everything all of a sudden felt as though in slow motion.

_This can't be happening._ Will thought.

He heard every gun release its individual bullets.

_This isn't real. This is not how it ends. My parents are alive. I want to live._

Will raised his hands to his head as if to shield his body from the bullets inevitably hurling toward him. William's body had gone numb and an overwhelming surge of energy came bursting out from within him. He opened his eyes to see the bullets stopping dead in their tracks. The soldiers stopped shooting, seeing as that the bullets weren't accomplishing their task. The bullets fell to the ground before them. William, who was exhausted by the whole ordeal, fell to his knees. His vision blurred as he fell backwards to the ground. Right before he closed his eyelids he heard,

_~Fascinating.~_


	3. No Introductions

CHAPTER 3 – No Introductions

Will was relieved to open his eyes to his own bedroom. The sun was shining through the window basking the room in a soft glow. He sat up, took a deep breath, got up from his bed and proceeded to the body length mirror.

_Same ol' same ol'._

He turned to face the mirror and saw his usual sleeping garb; gray shirt, flannel pants. He looked into the mirror, sighed and said,

"We needed that space to build our Tower." Will looked around the room, astounded by what he said. He looked back at the mirror and continued,

"Everyone's beneath you, because you have abilities, unlike your brethren. The Tower enables you to control what happens to the future of Earth. More Towers need to be built because our brethren need the energy to eradicate mankind." William looked deep into his own blue eyes in the mirror and his face morphed into that of the mystery man.

~_But then again, Liam, you don't need me to say anymore. You already know too much.~_

_

* * *

_

WYOMING MEDICAL CENTER

CASPER, WYOMING

AUGUST 10TH, 2012 1:52 P.M.

Will bolted upright in his hospital bed and gasped for breath. A bolt of lightning flashed outside and rain thrashed itself against the window in his room. He looked all around the room and felt his body. He was wearing a hospital gown and wondered where his clothes went. He scanned the room and saw his jeans and t-shirt cleaned and folded neatly on a chair across the room. He quickly got up and changed into his t-shirt. When he grabbed his jeans a piece of paper fell out from one of the pockets. William continued putting on his jeans and bent down to pick up the parchment. He slowly opened the piece of folded paper and immediately recognized the writing. He looked all the way to the bottom which read,

"Thanks for doing this honey. Love you OXOX"

William reread the last line a dozen times and tears fell from his eyes. He brought the piece of paper to his face and caressed it as if he was feeling his mother's hand through the penmanship. The phone rang from the wall beside his hospitable bed, which caused Will to jump in place. Placing his mother's note into his pocket, he looked around the room, letting the phone ring a couple of times before cautiously walking over and picking up the receiver.

"Um," Will sniffled, "hello?"

"Ah, good, you're awake." Will shuddered at the creepy familiar voice on the other end. It was the mysterious man from back at his house.

"What do you wa…" William paused briefly. The memories were flooding back to him; his home burning, hearing the men's thoughts saying, "They're Dead", the bullets freezing, his recent dream. "_But then again, Liam, you don't need me to say anymore. You already know too much."_

_I think that's the creepy guy's name… Liam._

Will continued, "What do you want… _Liam_."

"Well, I'm glad that we don't have to waste time introducing ours…"

"Where are my parents?" William coldly demanded.

"How ironic is that question? I was about to tell you where to find them. But aren't you the least bit curious as to how you got there at the hospital? What you did? What you are? You do realize those people you knew were casualties of war?"

"They're not dead. I don't believe you." Anger started bubbling up from the surface and the strange tremor caused the decorative vase next to his bed to crack.

Liam gave a disappointed sigh before responding, "Next to the T.V. is a cell phone." The T.V. was adjacent to his bed. Will walked forward to grab the cell phone.

Liam continued, "Under Contacts I left a single number for you to call. Your parents founded the infamous X-Files unit. There you will find your answers."

_X-Files unit? What's an X-File? That doesn't sound like Mom and Dad at all._

Will heard a single soft click on the other end of line and hung up. He flipped open the cell phone and pressed the direction keys on the pad that led him to the number he was about to call on the Contact list.

* * *

"FBI, Special Agent in Charge Leyla Harrison speaking."

_FBI?_

"Um… My name is William Van de Kamp. I need help finding my parents."

"I'm sorry, who is this and how did you get this number?"

"William… uh," Will got back onto his hospital bed to sit. When he sat down he started fidgeting with the blankets. "William Van de Kamp. The man who gave me this number, told me to call you if I wanted to find answers. I really need help finding my parents." Will was feeling more anxious and frantic by the minute.

"Who gave you this number?"

"Please, I need help. I'm scared, and confused. I think I saw a spaceship? I don't know what to do. There were these weird men; I think I could hear their thoughts. I don't even know what to think anymore. I'm totally freaking out right now." Will was hyperventilating.

"Ok, ok, just breathe and calm down. Hold on a minute and stay with me, I'm going to attempt to trace this phone call so that I can find you. Just keep talking, ok. What are your parents' names?"

There was a moment of silence. He forced himself to control his breathing. When he regained his composure a bit more he solemnly and slowly spoke, "George and Molly." Another pause allowed William to breathe and reflect. "Those men burned my home… I… I've got nothing to go back to…"

"Sweetheart, don't talk like that. I'm going to help you. Where do you think you are?"

William combed his hair with his fingers and looked around the room, this time with more sensitivity to anything that might be familiar. "I'm at…" His hand brushed by his face and he noticed the hospital tag still attached to his wrist, "The Wyoming Medical Center."

"Good, good. Now how old are you William? Can I call you Will?"

"Yeah, I'd prefer that. And I'm eleven."

"Eleven? Sheesh, my nephew is almost ten and boy, you have to be pretty brave for doing all of this. All he really likes doing all day is play on his Xbox and watch t.v. and… I'm pretty sure you don't want to listen to me talk about my nephew. " Will was speechless, which made the conversation a bit awkward. "Well, I've got your location. You're right, you are at a hospital. You are in Casper, Wyo…"

"Liam," interrupted Will.

"What Will?"

"The man who gave me this number to call you, he put me here. He burned my home and took my family away," he said somberly. William paused for a moment, "What are X-Files?"

"What? How did you hear about X-Files?"

"Liam told me to mention that…" William hesitated because what he was about to say sounded awkward coming out of his mouth. "My parents started the X-Files unit?"

Silence was on the other end of the receiver as she quickly put two and two together. The silence was creeping Will out, "Ms. Harrison? Are you still there?" Then a huge shrill of excitement was all that could be heard on the other end. The squeal's pitch was so high he swore his ears were going to bleed.

At lightning speed Agent Harrison finally spoke, "OH, MY, GOODNESS! No way, absolutely no way! You can't be? This is too good to be true. You're calling me? They're going to be so thrilled to see you. Oh boy. I'm so honored. William Scully? I have to call them, no I have to call Doggett and Reyes…"

"Whoa. I'm William Van de Kamp, not William Scully. You must have me confused with another kid."

"No way. Right age, same first name, your parents working on X-Files… no you're William Scully. I'm sure of it. And _I_ know X-Files!" she exclaimed.


	4. Something Old Something New

CHAPTER 4 – Something Old Something New

FBI HEADQUARTERS

WASHINGTON, DC 5:42 P.M.

"28… 29… 30…" Agent John Doggett could feel the perspiration on his back as he performed push-ups on his office floor. On the floor in front of his face was an open X-File case that he hoped to have finished reading by the end of the hour. "31… 32…," something caught his attention in the case file which caused him to lose his push-up count. So, he started at a random number that felt good to him. "1,023… 1,024… 1,025… one thousand…"

"36."

John Doggett looked up to the doorway and saw his radiant beautiful wife.

"Monica."

"John," Agent Reyes smiled.

"Baby," Agent Doggett replied looking up at Reyes' swollen belly.

"John, what are you doing?" Agent Doggett stuffed the papers back in the case file and stood up in place. He could feel the blood rush out of his face.

"I'm reading an old X-Files case that I'm still kind of fuzzy on with the details." Agent Reyes was able to catch a glimpse at the case file number and immediately remembered that case they did together.

"You're not still hung up on Case X-662, are you?" Agent Doggett turned around so that she couldn't see his face or the case file. He quickly walked over to the filing cabinets and stuffed the file in its appropriate slot.

"No."

"Look, we solved the Chicken-Cult case. They were just a bunch of really good vegan hypnotists. Trust me, I won't tell anyone that you were hypnotized into being a chicken."

"Yeah, I noticed that you carefully omitted that part out of your statement." He turned around and greeted Reyes with a kiss. "And I thought you weren't going to ever call it that," he smiled. When he looked at her in the eyes, she didn't return the expected smile. Instead, she bit the inside of her cheek and looked down at the floor. Something was up and it concerned Doggett.

"What's up? You look…" Doggett hesitated with his choice of words, "like something's bothering you."

"I'm… afraid of what I might say. What this will mean?" Reyes began to say as she started rubbing the side of her belly.

"What happened?"

"Do you remember Agent Leyla Harrison?"

"Yeah, she was a newbie when I met her. We were partners temporarily during that Lizard-man case. And then there was that time when she got us involved with that boy with crazy dreams. And on both those occasions it almost got me killed." Doggett placed both his hands on his hips. "Oh yeah, I remember her." His brow furrowed, "how has she spooked you?"

"Well, I got a call from her about…" she hesitated.

"About what hun?"

"About William Scully."

The name registered in his head and he reacted as if he had been hit with a frying pan. He looked around the office and scratched the back of his head. It had been years since he heard that name. He had often wondered about the whereabouts of Mulder and Scully, but knew that it was in their best interest and protection that they remained hidden. Agent Reyes continued, "Actually, Agent Harrison claims that he's William Scully. The boy says that he's William Van de Kamp."

Agent Doggett turned away from his wife and started pacing the room a bit. He stopped walking when he approached the desk and looked up at the wall behind it. He stared at the, "I WANT TO BELIEVE" poster and all the memories from the beginning of his career working on the X-Files were flooding back. He massaged the muscles between his jaw and cheek, then wiped the corners of his mouth with his thumb and forefinger. He turned around slowly, sat towards the front edge of the desk, looked up at Reyes and asked, "What do you think?"

"Well, I think Harrison's evidence to William's identification is circumstantial, and the manner in which he was able to contact us is very peculiar." They both pondered on that thought.

"What does your gut tell you?" Doggett questioned.

"I feel that this is legit. Despite the oddities, if he's a charlatan we'll know right away, but if he is who she claims him to be…" Reyes paused to take a breath, "then we owe it to ourselves to find him; for Mulder and Scully."

"I don't want you to go down into this deep dark rabbit hole again, especially in your condition. I'll go down there myself if I have to."

Agent Reyes moved closer to her husband and sat on the edge of the desk next to him, "Well, actually, Agent Harrison said that William wouldn't trust anyone or go anywhere unless she came along to see him."

They both looked at each other in disbelief and he said, "This isn't the first time she pulled a fast one on us. Do you really believe _that_ crock of B.S.?"

"No. But even still, you both have worked with each other in the past, and it helps to not go alone." To which Doggett sighed, rolled his eyes and bowed his head.

* * *

William hung up the phone with Agent Harrison. She would be in touch with him as soon as she could with more information on his parents and about coming to retrieve him. That conversation that he just had with Agent Harrison gave him doubts on how well he actually knew his parents. He walked over to the window where it was still raining. He stared out the window and allowed the rain to mesmerize him. He watched each drop on the window glass collect more drops until it was too heavy that it would fall, not in a straight line, but the most non-linear path to the bottom of the window. He felt that his life was like these rain drops, splattered into existence just to take a crooked journey and be joined by random drops.

"Oh honey," a woman called from behind him which took him back to reality. Will turned around to see a middle-aged black woman in a nurses' garb greet him. "You are awake. You were unconscious for so long I was worried about you. But there you are, up and about and changed I see." To which William looked down and said,

"I didn't like what I was wearing before, I felt a little… exposed." The nurse smiled and said, "Understandably so. Do me a favor sweetheart and have a seat on the bed there. I need to check your vitals real quick." He sat on the edge of the bed facing the nurse, where the she performed the basic check-up.

~_Body temperature and reflexes are good. Blood pressure is a bit too high for his age, but nothing to be too concerned about. I'll recommend to his doctor that he stays for a day or so~_

When she was done, she replied,

"Well, all is good." The nurse took a deep breath and looked William up and down

~_Poor boy. I hope he doesn't exhibit signs of amnesia. Chart says John Doe~_

"What do you remember? Do you know who you are?"

"My name is William Van de Kamp. I don't know how I got here. Um…" Will had to think of something, there was no way she was going to believe what was happening to him. "I think I was out getting some groceries for my mom. I rode my bike to the store, I think I felt exhausted and passed out."

"Uh, huh. Has this happened to you before?"

"No, never."

"What are your parents' names?"

"Well, my adoptive mom, her name is Leyla Harrison. She's an FBI agent. I just called her. She's going to come and get me."

"Oh, ok honey. That'll do for now. Just sit tight and watch as much television as you like," to which she grabbed the T.V. remote, flipped it to the Nickelodeon channel, and placed it back by the T.V. With Will's charts in her hands, she looked up and saw the broken vase in her direct eyesight and immediately said, "Oh dear, your flower vase broke somehow. Now don't you worry about that, I'll just get another one to brighten up this room."

The nurse was heading out of his room when Will heard from the nurse, ~_I wonder if he's hungry?~_

The nurse turned around and opened her mouth to speak, but before she was even able to get a word out Will replied, "Yes." Bewildered by his reaction and quick response to a question she hadn't yet asked, she responded, "Ok. I'll be right back." Will grinned as the nurse exited the room. Sitting from the hospital bed he saw out of the corner of his eye the broken flower vase the nurse was talking about earlier. He picked up one of the broken pieces and examined it. It was evidence that something bizarre is happening in his life. To which William realized,

_I caused this. I can hear people's thoughts. This is something new.  
_

He held the piece of the broken vase in the palm of his hand and he stared at it. He wanted the small piece to levitate just a few inches from his hand. Nothing happened. He tried imagining the piece hovering. Nothing happened. Will closed his eyes and thought about the piece in his hand. He immediately thought about how he felt when he broke the vase. He was mad, but he felt strangely warm. He remembered feeling the warmth being expelled from his body like a short burst of energy. So he thought about his own body heat. He focused on the body heat in his hand below the cold piece of porcelain. He imagined the heat in his hand pushing the piece upwards. When he opened his eyes he saw the piece rotating an inch above his palm and all he could say was, "Whoa."


	5. Family

William stared in wild wonder as he manipulated the piece in his hand to do all sorts of twists and turns, which made him wonder; if he could push things with this energy, could he not also bring things toward him? The floating piece now fell gently into his palm and he placed it back with the rest of the broken pile. He looked up at the T.V. and noticed the remote sitting next to the screen. He sat upright in his bed and stared at the remote and wondered if he really needed his hands to do this. William sat on his hands as he burned the image of the remote into his brain. He imagined this same energy extending out like some phantom limb reaching to retrieve the device. The remote twitched a bit. Will raised his eyebrows in disbelief and tried again. The remote squirmed in place before slowly lifting off the table and into the air. The remote just floated in the air and did not move toward him. Apparently this was going to be a lot harder than he had originally thought.

With the remote still floating in the air, Will gave up on trying to move it with just his mind and held up both of his hands like a wizard. He felt ridiculous at first, but he was alone and the visual representation was really helping him out. At the end of this phantom limb he imagined having invisible fingers outstretching for the remote before him. With one hand he imagined lifting the item up like he had done with the porcelain piece; with the other hand he projected his energy further out and behind the remote, gesturing his hand in a sweeping motion towards his body. The remote control still did not advance toward him, but instead performed amazing aerial acrobatics.

Frustrated, Will fell backwards onto his bed and closed his eyes for a moment. The remote control slammed back down on the table next to the television screen. He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly and sat up in his bed again. He was determined to get this remote. He wondered,

_Why isn't this working? Why is it so much easier to push than to pull?_

And then, William had a theory.

_What if this same energy within me is more like a magnet? That I can turn on and off, repel and attract. Am I literally manipulating the molecules around me? And if so, this power that I have could do so much more than this, but first…_

"Come to me, you freakin' piece of…" William quickly casted out his energy like a fishing line and grabbed the remote. He then imagined himself being the receiving end of a magnet and retracted the energy he so quickly expelled out. Right then, the nurse walked in with his food.

"Today's menu had chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes and corn…"

Will turned to face the nurse and the remote control zoomed across the room and smacked him in the face. The nurse only looked up in time to see Will smack himself with the remote.

"Honey, are you ok?" asked the nurse as she placed the food on the table tray next to his bed. The only thing that was hurt was William's pride and his face. The remote smacked him right on the eye brow ridge. He rubbed that area of his face with his hand and replied, "Yeah. I think you just startled me."

Realizing how starved he was he devoured the chicken nuggets on his plate within seconds.

"Easy now, you've got to remember to breathe too." She looked at William while he inhaled the corn on his plate. "I suppose I'll bring back another plate."

~_Hoo boy, he eats like he was raised on a farm~_

As Will shoveled a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth, he realized quickly how much better his Mom was at making real mashed potatoes. She would throw in shredded cheddar cheese with bits of bacon and sour cream on top. He paused his eating as he remembered sitting at the kitchen table with his family at dinner. At the circular wooden table he saw his father to the left and his mother to the right, both smiling and laughing over something. All of this seemed so long ago. He really missed his mother and father and wanted ever so desperately to go back. He prayed silently to himself, and asked for guidance. William felt very alone. He cried where he sat because the only thing he could think about was his family.

"Mom… Dad… where are you?"

* * *

BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

BALTIMORE, MD  
AUGUST 11th, 2012 5:44 A.M.

Doggett sat in his airplane seat close to the window. People were still boarding the plane when he felt his phone vibrate from within his pocket. He pulled out the phone from his pocket and saw that Monica Reyes had sent a text which read: ARE YOU ON THE PLANE? To which he texted back: YES. PLEASE GO TO BED. I LOVE YOU. He placed the phone temporarily on his lap and then looked the window. He could see the baggage handlers loading suitcases on the plane. His phone immediately buzzed. He looked down at the phone reading the text and grinned: I WILL. BE SAFE. I LOVE YOU TOO. He just got comfortable, leaning his head against the cabin wall when a cheery voice greeted him preventing his eyes from finally closing.

"Agent Doggett, has it seriously been a decade since we last seen each other?" Agent Harrison asked. Agent Doggett looked up to find Agent Harrison unchanged since he last remembered. With her hair longer and tied in a pony tail she still maintained her youthful smile and appearance.

"Agent Harrison, how's life in Accounting been treating you?"

"It's ok. Safer than what you have to go through I'm sure. While you and Reyes are out there justifying the insanities of this world, I'm behind the paperwork justifying the X-Files expenses; which isn't a problem since I've had first-hand experience in what you guys have to go through." Harrison continued placing her carry on in the overhead compartment and sat in the empty seat next to Doggett.

Agent Doggett sat up and repositioned himself so that he could see Agent Harrison better.

"And here I thought I was doing really well in this job. You know, I think the only reason why I still have this job is because I've solved considerably more cases than my predecessors. But I just thought that it was my relentlessness to solve each case was what kept the X-Files open. By the way, thank you for getting these plane tickets covered."

"No problem, the perks of working in Accounting for the FBI. Hey, how's your wife doing? I only just heard through the grapevine that she was temporarily moved to do desk work upstairs due to her pregnancy."

"Well, Monica's a fighter and stubborn as hell. I had actually tried to convince her that she should go on maternity leave and give me one less thing to worry about, but she insists on staying close to the X-Files Unit and helping me out whenever she can."

"OOOooo! Aren't you excited though? When are you due? Do you know the sex?"

Doggett was exhausted getting onto the plane and was hoping to catch a few hours of rest before landing in Casper, Wyoming.

"Are you normally this alert so early in the morning? I was actually hoping to catch a few z's before landing."

"Oh! My apologies, it's just been a while since I've gone out into the field like this. I mean, not just working with you again, but doing it finding William Scully. This is incredibly epic and exciting!" Smiling ear to ear she looked over at Doggett glaring back at her with the most exhausted look. "But you probably just want to sleep. We can talk later when we land." Agent Harrison grabbed a magazine from the pocket of the seat in front of her and started flipping through the pages.

"Thanks, I appreciate that." Doggett resettled himself back to his original slumber position and finally closed his eyes. He thought about Harrison's last bombardment of questions. Before drifting off to sleep he mustered as much energy as he could to sound excited and responded, "September 23rd is her due date. We're very excited to see our baby girl next month."

"Congratulations," said Leyla as she grinned to herself.

"Thanks," said Doggett sincerely, and he closed his eyes to finally sleep.


	6. Unrest

~_Liam, this is not your function. Stop obsessing and complete your purpose~_

Liam stood in the far corner of the dark room. He wanted so desperately to kill the creature that was sitting in the opposite corner from him. It too was also covered in darkness. As much as he wanted to destroy this creature, it was all he knew. Ever since he came into consciousness it was this abominable being that taught him everything he knows. Even if he did decide to destroy it, he was no match for the creature's agility, speed and strength. He could hear the creepy hallowed breathing of the apathetic beast.

_~Your time is short. I can sense it. Only when you complete your task will I then extend your life. Fail, and your death will be inevitable~ _

Liam was immediately beamed to Earth's surface into a small town already obliterated and the Tower already installed. His body felt numb all over with the overwhelming surge of energy he was receiving directly from the Tower. One of the soldiers approached him,

"All the humans that you have requested have been injected with the virus. All except these two people. Why have you chosen them to be one of us?" he said as he rubbed the spinal protrusion from the base of his neck.

Liam responded in the most ill-conceived manner. He wasn't sure if it was out of frustration or necessity but something compelled him to do it anyways. He took his fist and punched clear through to the soldier's back and ripped out a part of his spine. The soldier instantly fell backwards and died. Liam dropped the piece of vertebrae on the ground where the soldier stood and stared curiously at his blood soaked hand. Then he noticed something on the ground that caught his eye. He picked up a picture that caused him to grin mischievously. The edges of the picture were burned off from the fire, but he recognized the people in the photo and it gave Liam an idea.

The soldier that Liam punched miraculously came back to life and stood back up at erect attention. Liam didn't lose his focus on the picture and kept his back toward the soldier. Sardonically Liam spoke, "Don't ever question my orders, you know how that makes me feel." Liam turned to look at the man's blood soaked shirt. The soldier's wounds were healed through and through. "We're running out of time and we're behind schedule. You need to convert and implant more towns before launching the full attack on larger cities. December 22 is approaching and mankind has wavered in their decision on their sacrifice."

Liam decided to change his appearance by shape-shifting into one of the people he saw in the photograph. His body appeared to shiver as his height shortened and his body smaller, "I've got another battle to fight." He turned to face his reflection in the SUV's side window and saw William.

* * *

WYOMING MEDICAL CENTER

CASPER, WYOMING

AUGUST 11TH, 2012 10:40 A.M.

William woke up hating these horrific dreams involving Liam. If he did sleep, William wouldn't necessarily call them restful. The nurse was kind enough to let him wear adult scrubs, which hung loosely over his body, for pajamas. But for some reason he felt incredibly warm and the scrubs this morning felt snug. Eyes closed, he got up off the hospital bed and scuffled to the bathroom across the room. Striding over to the door, he felt for the light switch which blinded him while he attempted to wash his face. He turned the faucet to warm and splashed some water onto his face to wake himself up. He looked up into the mirror and to his horror saw, not his face, but Liam's.

"Aaaaaahhh!" Will shrieked as he fell backwards onto his back. He sat up and looked at his hands as they shivered and shrunk back to normal. His scrubs became loose again and he felt his face shift to its original form. Frightened, he crawled to the bathroom sink and slowly pulled himself up to confirm in the mirror. He hesitantly looked into the mirror and to his relief was his own reflection. He immediately ran to his bed and covered himself with the blankets. He had hoped that the blankets would bring some sort of soothing comfort to the horrific thing he had to witness first thing in the morning. He wanted to sleep, but knew it would be a bad idea; since they would most likely end up being visions of Liam's terrifying whereabouts. He didn't want to leave his bed because he might discover another bizarre thing about himself.

William began to cry again. _What is happening to me?_

These past few days have been incredibly traumatic to him. At this moment, all he really wanted was to be back home with his family arguing over trivial things like going to space camp. He heart ached to be held by his mother or be hugged by his father. He wasn't sure what hurt most; missing his parents' love and affection for him, or the fact that he no longer had a family to receive that love. William wasn't sure what to do. He felt so numb to life around him. So much was happening to him and around him; he just wasn't ready or prepared for it.

_Why is this all of a sudden happening to me? Why now? How am I able to do these things? What do these dreams mean? Where are my parents? What did they do? What's going on in this world?_

Will was left with more questions than answers. He stewed in his thoughts questioning everything that has happened to him. He could acknowledge what has happened to him, but the incredulities made it difficult for him to even verbalize it. Who would believe him? Who would be willing to help him, and if so, could they help him in his circumstance?

* * *

12:10 P.M.

Both John Doggett and Leyla Harrison got out of the rental car and walked toward the hospital with apprehension. Doggett felt the trepidation coming back to him, and it was the same feeling of government-alien conspiracy, self-doubt and paranoia beginning to set in. He often wondered what kept him going on the X-Files and why he stayed on it for so long, and then he stared down at his left hand. Throughout the years of working on the X-Files it was Reyes that kept him alive and going. It was her that kept him grounded to the possible truth, even if all evidence pointed to the contrary. It was in that impossible truth discovered in the midst of unusual circumstances that he was able to solve the murder of his son's case all those years ago. He trudged on and fought, file after file, to solve these impossible truths for the lost sons and daughters whose resolutions were just beyond reach. He fingered his marriage ring with his left thumb whenever he felt this way. He looked over at Agent Harrison beside him who was beaming with this unnatural energy.

"What kind of coffee did you drink this morning?" he asked.

"I had the same coffee as you did on the plane this morning Agent Doggett," she replied with a smile.

"All those years in Accounting must have built up a lot of half-crazed optimism and enthusiasm. Gee, I hope you brought enough for the both of us." He paused for a moment, switching the tone of the conversation to serious and continued, "You do realize that this guy in the hospital bed could be a fake, an agent of the system; sent to lure us out to be played like pawns on a board we know nothing about?"

"Well, when you dramatize it like it's the end of the world, what else do I have to lose?"

She beat Agent Doggett to the door and opened it for him as they both entered the building. Surprised by her response he replied, "Alright, well, glad to know that we're both on the same page."

They both showed their FBI badges as they approached the reception desk, Agent Harrison was the first to speak on their behalf, "Hi my name is Agent Harrison and this is my partner Agent Doggett of the FBI. We're here to see…" She was soon interrupted by the receptionist,

"Ah, you're here to pick up your son, William. He told us that you would be coming." Before Harrison could interject with the obvious confusion the receptionist continued,

"We've got these forms we need you to fill out, if you don't mind." The receptionist shoved a pen and clipboard into Leyla's general direction. "What?... Oh… ok" was all Agent Harrison was able to say. She was used to being pushed paperwork at the office in D.C. Agent Doggett couldn't help but smile, amused with the predicament she had somehow gotten herself into.

"Was there something you neglected to tell me?" he grinned, trying ever so hard from laughing out loud.

Focused on the work set before her, this was her area of expertise. Harrison held up her finger, "Shh… filling out paperwork is my forte. I'll handle it," she said as she mindlessly walked toward an empty seat in the lobby to sit down and continued, "Go talk to William, I'll be there momentarily." She was furiously filling out paper work set before her. Agent Doggett turned around to face the receptionist again.

"What room is William staying in?"


	7. Knowing Things

Agent Doggett took a deep breath before entering William's room. When he walked in the room he saw a small little boy sitting up in the bed, with arms wrapped around his bent legs and his knees to his face. The T.V. was off and the boy did not look up to greet Agent Doggett as he entered the room, instead he just stared at his blankets before him as if in a trance. He noticed his food tray remained untouched on the table next to his bed. If anything, the boy appeared depressed or in shock.

"William? William Van de Kamp?" Doggett approached the boy until he was standing right beside him. William remained motionless.

"My name is Agent John Doggett from the FBI, I've got a badge and everything if you care to look?" He pulled out his badge and showed it in front of Will's face. After seconds of more silence, Doggett placed his badge back inside his pocket. William didn't move from his position. Doggett hesitated for a moment trying to decide on how to handle the situation. He looked around the room and found a chair by the T.V. and pulled it close to Will's bedside. Doggett sat down in the chair facing Will and continued,

"I was sent by Agent Leyla Harrison from the FBI, she's also here. She was the one you talked with on the phone yesterday." Doggett paused allowing the boy to talk, giving him a chance to prove that he's William Scully. Not that John would necessarily know what to look for, but he was hoping to witness some characteristic of Fox Mulder or Dana Scully or perhaps… something extra-terrestrial. However, he wasn't getting any feedback whatsoever. William remained indifferent. So Doggett continued talking for the both of them, perhaps he could gather some inkling of a reaction to what he was saying by reading his body language.

"Look, I know you probably don't trust me, so let me talk about what I know and would like to know about you." Agent Doggett got up from his chair and started walking around William's bed so that he could see his face more clearly. "I know you say that your name is William Van de Kamp, but my colleagues and I feel that you are… this boy we knew a long time ago. His name, although similar to your first name, is significant to all of us back home where I live. If this same boy came back with us it would really help clear up any confusion that may have happened with you. In return, we'll help you out in any way we can. How does that sound?"

William's eyes shifted in the direction of Agent Doggett. Will blinked slowly, sighed and resumed his gaze on the stitch-pattern on the sheets before him. Doggett was starting to lose the feeling that this was William Scully. Instead he was feeling that this disturbed young boy somehow heard about the X-Files and called the first person who would listen to his plight. Meanwhile, he probably was given the run-around just to be humiliated working in the X-Files unit. It wouldn't be the first time this has happened to him.

Agent Doggett gave a slightly disappointed sigh and walked over to the door to hopefully hail Agent Harrison down. But before Doggett reached the doorway the door slammed in front of his face, preventing him from leaving. Concerned and surprised, Doggett turned around to face William. Will shifted from his original position to face Agent Doggett and inhaled before saying,

"Special Agent John Doggett of FBI's X-Files unit. Married to Agent Monica Reyes who is not only on the X-Files herself but is expecting your daughter in September. You came all the way out here with hopes of finding Dana Scully's long lost son, William Scully, who was put up for adoption exactly eleven years ago." William looked up at Agent Doggett with his puppy-dog blue eyes and in seriousness continued, "Your friends think I'm William Scully. That my parents are possibly Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who worked on the X-Files unit together almost twenty years ago. I'm not sure if I'm the person you're expecting to me. _I'm_ not even sure who I am anymore or what my parents are. So many weird things are happening to me I don't even know where to begin." Will paused to look Doggett up and down; his eyebrows were furrowed and serious.

"I do trust you because… I can hear your thoughts." Just then, Agent Harrison opened the door.

"Hello? Did I miss anything?"

* * *

WASHINGTON D.C. 1:05 P.M.

Monica Reyes couldn't sleep. Ever since her husband left this morning, she kept getting a funny feeling that this was the beginning of something terrible. Especially since this is the year 2012; the year predicted by the Mayans for the world's Armageddon. She wouldn't necessarily call herself superstitious, but having worked in the X-Files has definitely made her consider the possibilities. And if that was the case, she wasn't about to let her pregnancy stop her from helping out where she could. She was standing in her kitchen clutching her cell phone for the past three hours, trying to get a hold of the man who could get a hold of Mulder and Scully.

"Come on…"

The kettle on the stove was whistling. She reached into one of the cabinets for a clean mug and poured herself some hot water for tea. She placed her cell phone on the counter and put it on speaker to free up her hands. Dipping the citrus-mint flavored teabag into her mug with one hand, she rubbed her belly with the other.

"Baby girl, I can't wait for you to come so that I can have my cup of coffee again," she said to herself as she sipped her tea.

"Agent Reyes, thank you for your patience. The meeting lasted a bit longer than anticipated. Walter Skinner will be with you in just a moment."

"Thank you. Finally," Reyes said to herself, turning the speaker off and placing the phone by her ear.

"Agent Reyes, how are you?"

"Pregnant, but well. It's been a while since we last talked. How's the FBI Academy treating you?"

"Well, as Head of Communications Department I would say that if it wasn't the X-Files that killed me it would be these faculty meetings. This call seems out of the blue. What's going on?"

"Walter… I need you to contact Mulder and Scully." There was a slight pause in their conversation.

"Wow. I didn't really expect to hear that kind of favor from you. I don't know if I can do that. You know how they prefer their privacy."

"I understand that, but you were the last one to see them four years ago. And I wouldn't be calling unless it involved them personally."

Reyes could hear the hesitation within the sigh Skinner gave on the other end of the line. A moment of silence passed between the two colleagues. Walter Skinner took the time to realize the gravity of her proposition and then realized who it was that could possibly need Mulder and Scully's presence.

"How did you find him?"

"We didn't find him, he found us. He's in a hospital in Casper, Wyoming."

"Yeah, but how?"

"Agent Leyla Harrison got a call yesterday from a boy named William Van de Kamp. He said that a man named Liam gave him the number to Harrison's office, and that his parents had worked on the X-Files. Sir, this can't be just a coincidence. If this is the William that we know, he would be the same age as this boy that's in the hospital right now. Sir?"

Skinner took a moment to assess the situation and said, "I'll do this, I don't know how soon, but I'll call you about their arrangements to D.C."

"Thank you." And they hung up on each other.

* * *

"What?" Agent Harrison asked.

"Well, I'm beginning to believe that you were right in your original assumption." Agent Doggett said placing his hands on his hips.

"Well I told you he's William Scully," said Agent Harrison.

"I guess," said William, surprised by their assumption.

"You said you can read minds, what else can you do?" asked Doggett curiously.

"Whoa, you can read minds? That's so cool!"

Doggett turned to look at Agent Harrison with an incredulous look. "What?" she said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, Mr. Doggett…" started Will.

"Please, call me John," interrupted Doggett.

"Ok… Um… John, I was a normal kid three days ago. I wasn't able to do these sorts of things before. I noticed a really odd buzzing happening in the woods next to my house. I left to get things for my mother and these big black trucks came and burned my house down. I biked back there from the town store to find my home in flames. There was a really weird black spaceship that made me feel… well… stronger, almost invincible. That's when I first started hearing their thoughts. All the soldiers that were there, they said something along the lines of killing my parents. But I don't believe them. Then Liam came out and told them to kill me. Bullets were shot at me and I… I think I, somehow stopped all of them. I wake up here in this hospital, was called by Liam himself from that telephone," to which Will looked and pointed to on the wall.

"He left me that cell phone there with only one number to call if I wanted answers to finding my parents. Only, I don't think… my parents were my birth parents." Will paused for a moment, realizing what he was just admitting to himself. He never knew he was adopted. "So I called the number and got in contact with you Agent Harrison. After we hung up, I've only experimented with this energy yesterday."

"Energy?" Doggett asked.

"Yeah, I can push stuff around but I haven't figured out how to bring stuff to me. It's really weird to think about. You know, it feels like I'm this sun soaking up energy and that the air around every object is like this free flowing liquid that's constantly moving. Well, when I force my energy on an object… like if I want to push items away, I kind of think of myself as a flame thrower. Like I imagine pushing my own body heat onto that object, and it moves. And getting stuff, well…" William rubbed his eyebrow ridge, remembering his incident with the remote yesterday. "…let's just say that it's in the works."

Feeling a lot better, now that that was off of his chest, William noticed the food tray and started eating the cold leftovers from a couple of hours ago. Agent Doggett and Agent Harrison didn't know what to think of next. They were both flabbergasted by the incredibly bold statement William made just then. If any of them were to submit this into any case file, it would certainly get them fired, or worse killed; especially if this information fell into the wrong hands. Doggett walked away from the door way and stood by the window to stare out of it, scratching his head. Harrison walked over to the chair beside Will's bed and sat down.

She looked up at the boy and asked, "So… do you think, you could…"

"Demonstrate?" said Will, finishing Harrison's question. Agent Harrison smiled and replied, "Yeah." John Doggett turned around to look at Will. His interest was piqued as well. They all watched as Will stared at his plastic fork. All of a sudden, the fork wiggled. Then the utensil stood on its end and started twirling the spaghetti that was on his plate before him. Both Doggett and Harrison's jaws dropped.

"Now do you believe me John?"


	8. Coincidence

Nothing was said between the individuals in the room. They all continued watching the fork spin in place in absolute amazement. The only thing Doggett could say was, "Whoa."

Agent Harrison immediately replied, "Are you kidding? This is absolutely incredible!" And on that note, Will stopped the fork from twirling in place by grabbing it and scarfing the rest of the food on his plate into his mouth.

"John?" William asked with a mouthful of food.

"Yeah, William?" said Doggett, still in disbelief with what he just saw.

"I wanted to apologize for not responding when you first walked in earlier. I haven't been sleeping well these past few days and when I woke up this morning I wasn't myself."

"That's alright kid. When I don't drink my coffee in the morning I'm sometimes not myself eith-"

"No, that's not what I meant," interrupted Will, drinking the last bit of his plastic apple juice cup. "I… got up from my bed… walked to the bathroom to wash my face and when I looked at myself in the mirror… I looked like Liam from my dreams! Before I knew it, I was changing back into my own body and hid under the covers. I was so scared. I didn't know what to do, and I… didn't think anyone could help me until you came along."

Concerned, Agent Doggett came over to Will, "William, forgive me, but I have to check…" and checked the back of Will's neck for any spinal protrusions.

"Agent Doggett, what are you doing?" questioned Agent Harrison.

"I'm checking to see if he's a Super Soldier."

"It's ok Ms. Harrison, I understand," replied Will. And to Doggett's relief, the base of Will's neck was normal.

"Ok, Will, you may be able to read minds, but I can't. What's a Super Soldier?"

Doggett replied, "Super Soldiers are these alien-human hybrids who were created by aliens to take over our government. I had known a few people in the past who I thought were friends, but were really these Super Soldiers. They are damn near difficult to kill." Agent Doggett then looked at William. He could almost feel William combing through his thoughts. "I had to check because the only creature I have heard to shape-shift was this alien creature Agent Scully called a Bounty Hunter. They were sent to Earth to eliminate any existing proof of alien existence before the invasion could happen." Agent Doggett continued, "You know your father actually was sent to prison for killing one of these Super Soldiers? I had helped him escape from prison and he and Scully had been on the run since then."

"Yeah, but I thought that the government's forgiven them on their charges?" inquired Agent Harrison.

"Oh, they are forgiven, it's just that no one believes them, and that there are so few people out there who know the truth."

"But how did Mulder kill the super soldier?"

"He didn't."

"But with the prison he was in, being so heavily guarded. How could he have escaped if these Super Soldier's are so invincible?"

"Well, we all almost didn't. It was a boy, named Gibson Praise, who told us where they actually went. And when Agent Reyes and I went to track them down it was to an old Pueblo Indian village out in New Mexico. It was there that a Super Soldier came up to us and was sucked into the Village's stone walls and destroyed. The best way I can explain it, is that there's a material known as Magnetite that was discovered in those Indian villages by Dana Scully. It's like their kryptonite."

"How am I like him?" asked Will.

"What do you mean?" asked Doggett.

"You keep saying," William said pointing to his ear and head, "how this Gibson Praise and I are similar."

"Oh. This boy, wow… he's gotta be in his twenties now. He possesses one of the same abilities as you do. He could read people's minds as well."

"Maybe he and I can meet someday?" asked William.

"Perhaps, but he's been on the run and into hiding as well. I don't even know if he's still alive, but at this point I'm hoping for the best. I'll see what I can do."

"Will, why don't you change out of those scrubs and into your clothes?" asked Agent Harrison.

"We're going to take you back to Washington D.C. with us. There are a lot of people back home who have been waiting to see you for a very long time," Agent Doggett added.

* * *

TORONTO, ONTARIO CANADA

3:03 P.M.

A cell phone was ringing on the living room table. Mulder could hear it go off from his office.

"Scully! Scully, your phone is going off!" he yelled out while reading and tearing out newspaper articles.

"Mulder, could you take a look at the Caller I.D. and tell me who it is? I'm a little preoccupied at the moment," called Scully from the kitchen.

Mulder got up and picked up Scully's cell phone. The lit up screen read: SKINNER. To which Mulder grinned as he flipped open the phone to talk.

"Well if it isn't Mr. Skin-man himself. To what do we owe this dubious pleasure?"

"Mulder. It's good to hear from you too. I know for a fact that I called Scully's cell phone, so I can assume that she's close by."

"You can assume-away," Mulder replied picking up a few sunflower seeds and putting them in his mouth.

"Is that Skinner?" Scully questioned out-loud to Mulder. It's very odd to have a person that both she and Mulder knew mutually, which meant, that something serious was happening. She placed the kitchen towel on the counter and sat down on the couch beside Mulder. Mulder placed the cell phone down on the coffee table before them and switched the audio to speaker phone so that they could both hear.

"Good, because this news involves you both," Walter Skinner sighed deeply before continuing, "I just got a call from Agent Reyes, and it appears that…" Skinner hesitated with these last few words.

"It appears that we may have found your son."

Both Scully and Mulder were silent for a moment.

"Wha?... William?" Scully said. Shocked and on the verge of tears Scully picked up the phone, "_My _William? But how? Why?" Her voice sounded angry.

"I don't know how or why, but William contacted _us_. What I do know is what Agent Reyes told me. She said that Agent Leyla Harrison had gotten a call yesterday from a boy named William Van de Kamp. And that a man name Liam gave him the number to Harrison's office. The boy said that his parents had worked on the X-Files. This William is in a hospital in Casper, Wyoming right now." Skinner waited a second before continuing, "Look, that's all the information that I have right now. As the parents, I had to let you know what's been happening. I'll let you know more as soon as I know. I'm leaving the choice to you guys to come see for yourselves. Just give me a call and let me know what you both decide to do and I'll make the proper arrangements." Both Scully and Skinner hung up the phone on each other. She placed the phone back on the coffee table.

Nothing was said as Mulder and Scully sat there on the couch. Mulder exhaled slowly as he rubbed his hands back and forth. He looked over at Scully whose hands were clutching her face in complete shock. She had no idea what to think.

"A dollar for your thoughts?" he asked.

Losing her train of thought she responded, "A dollar?"

"Yeah, inflation." He grinned at her to which she slapped him on his shoulder.

"Mulder how can you be joking in a time like this?"

"Come on Scully. Why worry over things that are hundreds of miles away? This information was just told to us ten minutes ago, whereas eleven minutes ago our lives haven't physically changed." He reached over to hug Scully who fell into his arms graciously. "Look, we don't know all the facts. Besides, do you really believe in coincidences?"

"That's never stopped you before… wait a minute," Scully paused and squinted at Mulder, "you think _it is_ our William. You want to go back."

"We would be finding out the final truth." Scully looked into Mulder's eyes and saw the spark she saw in him almost twenty years ago.

"I'll call Skinner and let him know."


	9. No Rest for the Wicked

Liam felt the cool desert breeze that night. Sitting in the hummer and waiting to stop at the next destination to convert made him irritable and impatient. His mission was clear. First Objective: Transform all the small cities of the world and their citizens into soldiers for the cause. Complete objective by December 22nd. Second Objective: Release the virus.

He could hear gunfire and screaming in the distance. That was his kind of music, it was time to work. When the vehicle stopped he stepped out to evaluate his surroundings. He stood in the middle of a town where he could hear the sound of women and children screaming and crying. The area was crawling with his men as they took prisoners to convert. Liam turned around to see if he could see a smoother clearing to establish a Tower, when a local man came up to him with a shotgun to his gut. Before Liam had time to react the man shot him up close in the abdomen. Liam fell to his knees and before expiring he gurgled out blood saying, "Man, you picked the wrong man t-"

Another fire of the local man's shot gun had blown Liam's head off. The man kicked the body with the tip of his boot and Liam's body fell to the ground. The man looked around to see if anybody saw him. He ducked below the hood of the vehicle to hide and shield himself from the swarming troop of soldiers that invaded his town.

"What the hell is going on?" the man whispered to himself. He removed the old shell casings and placed new ones from within his pocket into the barrels. He cocked his gun and took aim at one of the soldiers coming into his firing range. "This whole place has gone to hell," he said to himself.

"Close, but I wouldn't do that," said a voice from beside him. The local man looked up in horror to find Liam standing up again. A new face replaced where it had been damaged, and blood was soaked from his chin to his chest. The wound on his abdomen had been healed, but the clothing around it showed evidence of a fatal wound.

Liam had a menacing frightening look on his face as he projected his energy to bend the barrels of the local man's shot gun. Using this energy being projected by his hands, Liam lifted the man in the air and enjoyed the fear in his eyes. When he had had enough, he crushed the man's trachea and neck and killed him.

Liam rotated his head to stretch his neck. "I hate it when that happens," he said with a smile, "Now it's time to work."

* * *

WASHINGTON D.C.

AUGUST 12TH, 2012 2:43 A.M.

"Will! Will! Wake up!"

Will shot his eyes open. He had fallen asleep. Ever since the incident at home, his dreams were getting worse. Will tried all day to avoid sleeping because of this. With the waiting at airports, the flights and getting into the car after landing, it was all a matter of time before he shut his eyes. Will wiped the sweat off of his forehead and looked at Doggett.

"You were hyperventilating in your sleep. Are you sure your ok?" asked Doggett.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Where are we? Where's Ms. Harrison?" asked Will.

"We're at my home in Washington D.C." Agent Doggett unbuckled his seat belt and got up out of the car. Will looked on and did the same. Agent Doggett continued explaining as they walked up to his front door steps,

"Agent Harrison got her car at the airport and went home, remember? Well, you were probably too exhausted to have remembered, but then again you somehow zombie-walked straight to my car and crashed immediately. Don't worry. She's going to meet back with us at my office tomorrow. There are a couple of things I want to check out, but first, let's get you to a bed so that you can sleep better."

Agent Doggett opened the front door to his house to found his wife sitting in the recliner with the table lamp still on. Monica Reyes had waited for them all evening expecting their arrival. When Will and Doggett walked through the door, Monica woke up and carefully pushed herself up from the recliner to stand up. Dressed in an evening robe, she was glad to see them both alive and well.

"William." She said softly as she greeted both of them with a smile and walked over to Will. No words were spoken as she stared him in the eyes. She hugged him for what seemed like forever. Hearing her thoughts made Will empathetic to her reason to hug him for so long. William lifted his arms to hug her back. When she did step back to allow him to breathe, she wiped a tear from her eye.

"You have no idea how long…" She paused to wipe the multiple tears that were now falling down her face.

"I know." William agreed, sympathetic to her feelings.

"I'm Monica Reyes…I… I was there when you were born. I held you, in my arms…when you came into this world." She said as she sniffled to herself. Will felt awkward and didn't know what to say. He immediately looked down and shuffled his feet a bit.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're excited to see me home as well," interrupted Doggett. Seeing that he was obviously joking she walked over to John Doggett and gave him a loving kiss on the lips.

"I'm glad to see you home too." Reyes said as she lovingly touched the side of Doggett's face. She turned to look at William and continued, "I've made up a bed for you in the guest bedroom. Here, let me show you." Then she looked at her husband who already proceeded to their bedroom to get ready for bed and she walked down the hallway to the guest bedroom. William followed her down the hallway and into the bedroom. It was a beautiful bedroom with a phenomenal skylight that revealed the stars when you looked up. Monica Reyes turned on the bedroom light.

"I know you didn't pack anything, so I've set aside a t-shirt and a pair of my old gym shorts which no longer fit me at the moment but they're for you to wear for pj's. It's not much, but we'll go get you some new clothes when you wake up." Reyes walked over to the doorway and placed her hand on the doorknob. She looked up at William and continued, "The bathroom is just outside your door to the left. And if you need anything, please don't hesitate to call on either me or John. We're sleeping at the other end of the hall, ok?"

William nodded and she gave one last warm grin before closing his bedroom door. Will changed into the clothes Reyes offered and he turned off the bedroom lights. He went to lie down on the bed and looked up at the skylight. Lying on the bed he could see part of a constellation but not all of it. The sight was a relief to see; something constant, consistent and reliable. It was peaceful and it reminded him of home. He lay on the bed for only a few minutes before realizing how much he didn't want to fall asleep and bolted up right on his bed.

He got up and left his bedroom. He walked down the hallway that led to the front door and couldn't help but notice the marriage photos hanging in the hallway. He looked closely at a photo of John in a tux smearing cake on Reyes's nose. It was a picture of pure happiness.

_They really do love each other. I suppose that would explain his constant conversation with her on the phone throughout the entire trip._

He continued walking down the hallway to look at the proceeding photos. He could hear part of the conversation from earlier in the day continue ringing in his head:

"Monica, if he's not William Scully then I don't know what."

"I would like to take him to the lab and test his blood just to confirm it."

"I would say that he looks like a spitting image of Mulder, but his eyes are definitely Scully's."

"How are my girls doing?"

"I'll be home soon."

"No he doesn't have anything except the clothes on his back. He thinks his parents are dead and that Super Soldiers are involved. Yeah."

"Monica, you should see what this kid could do. I bet he would give Gibson Praise a run for his money."

_Gibson Praise. Who is this Gibson Praise? If he can hear thoughts like I can, perhaps he can teach me how to filter out the thoughts I don't want to hear._

Will made it to the end of the hallway and stepped out the front door to get a better look at the stars. He sat in the middle of their front lawn and looked up through the clearing. In this time of the month he could definitely see Coronus Australis and Sagittarius. Their patterns were perfectly displayed as if they were meant just for him. It was such a beautiful night looking at the stars. His surroundings were extremely serene and undisturbed; completely opposite of his time sitting in the airport earlier in the day. He could hear voices of not just Agent Harrison and John but the voices all around him. Even if Will wanted to fall asleep he couldn't because of the amounts of sounds going through his skull. The noise was completely overwhelming. Indeed, Silence was golden.

* * *

6:10 A.M.

Reyes couldn't sleep. She dozed in and out since her husband and guest came home, but she couldn't help feeling like there was more to William than what he was letting on. Although being almost eight months pregnant wasn't ideal for sleeping either, she definitely had a bad case of insomnia. She carefully sat up and eased herself out of bed. She grabbed her night-robe to put on as she turned to look at her slumbered husband. She smiled to herself as she went to check in on their houseguest.

The door was cracked a bit, making her wonder whether he forgot to close the door after using the bathroom. She opened the door to look in, and her heart skipped a beat. Nobody was there and the bed was untouched.

"William?" she said out loud.

She looked in the bathroom and checked the kitchen. She looked all over the house and in each individual room. She was crossing the living room to get John when she noticed something outside from her living room window.

"What?"

She walked closer to the window to get a better picture of what was outside. William was sitting outside on her front lawn staring up at the sky. She opened her front door and stepped outside.

"William… what are you doing out here?" She grabbed her robe closer to her body. The cool summer breeze was giving her a slight chill.

"The skylight in the bedroom was nice but I couldn't see the rest of the stars."

Reyes carefully knelt down beside Will in the grass and looked up at the sky with him.

"That one right there, the one that kind of looks like a 'C' is the Corona Australis. And that one… do you see the brightest star there? That bright star is called 'Vega' or 'Falling Eagle'. It's part of a group of stars that looks kind of like "The Big Dipper" but with a broken ladle. That constellation is called Lyra. At home I had a telescope that my father bought for me to look out my bedroom window at night when the skies were clear. Seeing the stars reminds me of home." The silence allowed Reyes to understand William's appreciation for the tranquility. But looking up at the stars reminded her of something.

"William… when you were born, there was this star that's haunted me to this day. I don't know what it was, but it scared me. It gave me this feeling like I was constantly being watched." She looked at William who was lying on the ground staring up at the sky. His brow furrowed out of concern as he looked off elsewhere.

"But it also gave me the feeling that everything was somehow going to be alright." Reyes repositioned herself to where she was sitting on her side to better look at William.

~_Poor boy's been through hell. No wonder he can't sleep~_

"I can sleep."

"What?"

"I want to sleep, but every time I close my eyes, I see what Liam is doing and it frightens me. Some of the things that he's done are so horrible that… I just don't want to sleep."

"I know this is hard, but maybe talking about it could help. Perhaps it's a direct link to who you are or what you are and how you came to be."

"Agent Reyes-"

"Please, you're staying at my home. Call me Monica."

"Alright… Monica… I think what frightens me is that I'm finding more things about Liam every night. And what I keep seeing are things that he and I have in common. I almost have to wonder, could that eventually be me?"

Reyes sat there with William on her own lawn appreciating the solidarity and openness of William. It gave her the reassurance she needed from him, and it flattered her to know that he felt comfortable enough to be open with her.

"William… can I just call you Will?"

William smiled, "Heh, most people do already."

"Well, from what John told me about you, is that you have these abilities right? Abilities that no one else has except you and this Liam guy, right?"

"Yeah."

"We all have these violent urges within us. And we all have the capabilities to perform these heinous acts, no matter what kind of abilities you have." She was interrupted by the movement of her baby within her who all of a sudden became restless. Caught off-guard, Reyes massaged her belly and continued, "But it's making the right decision, even if the choices are difficult, that defines who you are as a person; not what you have in common with your enemy."

Reyes sighed heavily. She furrowed her eyebrows as she rubbed her abdomen.

"Are you ok Monica?" Will asked.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. She's been my reason why _I _can't sleep at night. I believe she's having a soccer match with my bladder and… I'm losing."

"Can I feel your belly?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." She reached for Will's hand and placed it on the active part of her stomach. William grinned as he could feel the baby kick.

"Have you thought of any names?"

"Well, since it's a girl, John and I have kind of liked the name Amelia. So I'm thinking we're probably going to stick with that."

William retracted his hand as he thought of something. "I never knew about my adoption. I was the only child in my family. I never even bothered asking about my birth. I sometimes wonder that the reason why I wasn't told the truth was because they were afraid I wouldn't love them." Reyes thought about his statement and responded,

"Some adoptive parents intentionally don't tell their children that they've been adopted. You see, some parents when they get to a certain age can't have children of their own. They try so hard that the process can be a physical and emotional toll on them. I believe that the reason why some parents don't tell their adoptive children the truth is because they want keep that same deep emotional bond and relation to their children as life-givers, like birth parents have.

"But you have to understand, your birth was a miracle on all accounts. Your mother, Dana Scully, was told by all of her doctors that she would never conceive. When she did carry you, she endured so much hell and went at such great lengths to protect you; more so than any woman has had to. When you were born, Scully and I were trying to escape from a dangerous criminal who happened to be a Super Soldier. Strangely, this criminal and many other Super Soldiers somehow found us and just stood there as they watched you come into this world. After your birth, all the Super Soldiers mysteriously left without threatening any of our lives. When you came home, conspirators knew where to find you and took advantage of your well-being, which almost killed you.

"Please understand, Scully had sacrificed her chance of motherhood with you because your lives were endangered everyday that she had worked on the X-Files, trying to discover the truth. The cost of seeking the truth about the world and saving you was adoption; giving you a life free of that chaos and danger. Don't ever doubt the love your parents have for you because it will always be there no matter what. Love between one set of parents is plenty, but love between two sets of parents, well, that just makes you incredibly blessed." She reached out her hand and delicately combed her fingers through his hair. Then she rubbed his shoulders to comfort him before repositioning herself to her knees to stand back up.

"You and John mentioned this 'truth'. Does it have to deal with the end of the world?"

Reyes slowly stood up from her sitting position, holding the underside of her belly with one hand and pushing herself off the ground with the other. She sighed before hesitantly responding, "I think that part of the conversation is for another sleepless night. Huh, what do ya think?"

Concurring, William stood up alongside her and they both proceeded back inside the house to attempt to sleep again, even if it was just for another couple of hours.


	10. An Old Violin

FBI HEADQUARTERS

WASHINGTON D.C.

AUGUST 14TH, 2012 11:12 A.M.

A dark figure hovered over the door that was labeled:

ACCOUNTING

- Agent Leyla Harrison-

He slipped a file underneath the door and gave a couple of knocks to alert the person inside who was sleeping at her desk. Leyla sat up with a jerk in response to the abrupt awakening. She looked at her watch to check the time and sipped her coffee which had since chilled from 7:30 this morning. This past weekend of traveling and adventure was finally catching up with her. Another knock hit her office door and she looked up at the door to see the silhouette disappear from the opaque glass window. She stood up and quickly walked over to the office door. Noticing the manila file folder she picked it up and opened the door. Looking outside and down both ends of the hallways she could see nobody in sight.

Concerned, she hastily opened the folder to see information about a man named, "Andrew Lucas". She flipped through the papers and saw a picture of man whom she assumed was Mr. Lucas. She had no idea who the man in the photograph was. Knowing the kind of weekend she just had, she knew the file was relevant on some level. She also wondered if the same person who dropped off this file was the same person who gave out her office number. Her office phone started ringing as she slipped the mysterious file into her personal brief case.

"FBI, Special Agent in Charge Leyla Harrison speaking."

"Agent Harrison, it's John Doggett, did you get the blood test results?"

"Um, I haven't gone by the lab today, but I will grab the report on my way over to your house," she said sitting down at her desk.

"Alright, call my cell when you have the file."

"Doggett… I got this file this morning… It was slipped under my office door while I was…" she hesitated for a moment choosing her next words carefully; she didn't want to admit she had been sleeping earlier, "researching a separate case. Well, I don't know anything about this person and the picture looks unfamiliar to me. Does the name Andrew Lucas mean anything to you?"

Silence was on the other end of the phone. Doggett wasn't expecting to hear that name for a long time, especially from a person who shouldn't really know this name.

"Who sent you that file?"

"I don't know. As I've said it was slipped through the crack of my door. So it could have been anyone in this office building. You know who he is, don't you?"

"That name that's on that file was removed from Witness Protective Services meaning that this boy, well… man now, is in danger. We've got to find him before any harm comes to him and this gets any worse."

"Who is he? What's Andrew Lucas's real name?"

"Gibson Praise."

* * *

12:33 P.M.

The lack of sleep was taking a serious toll on William's focus and will to do anything. His dreams were causing him to consider the difficult inevitable choices he would have to make. He sat on the couch in the Doggett living room and stared at the television screen hoping to find a channel that would pacify his busied thoughts, but nothing seemed to give him any form of serenity. Will was torturing himself. He needed rest and he knew it. He also knew of the whereabouts of Liam's horrific actions throughout the world. Closing his eyes was torture.

Reyes was looking at Will from afar and was deeply concerned for his emotional state. There was nothing she could do to help him rest, and her helplessness felt disconcerting. Doggett walked up to Reyes from behind and placed a loving hand around her waist. He looked at what she was staring at and started talking to her in hushed tones.

"I just got off the phone with Harrison. She's going to head over to the lab and grab the results to William's DNA testing. She'll be here soon." Reyes nodded without looking at Doggett. "A file under was slid through her door by a stranger, and… the file was on Andrew Lucas."

She turned to look at her husband, "Andrew Lucas?" She gasped. "You don't mean… Gibson Praise? He's supposed to have been relocated. The only people who knew of his changed location and I.D. were Kersh, Skinner, you and I."

"Do you think Kersh could have been compromised?"

"Possibly, but storing and protecting sensitive information in the X-Files has never been one of its fortes; especially in this government and technology now-a-days."

"True. We've got to find him. Agent Harrison has more information with her and she'll be over here soon."

They both paused as they looked upon this boy. William looked absolutely miserable. His bloodshot eyes and sad expression disturbed them both. Something has to be done to remedy this.

"Has he tried any sleeping pills?" Doggett asked.

"I've tried offering them to him, however, he says he gets these nightmares that are so real and horrible, it makes staying awake a better choice. When I asked him about his abilities, he said that he couldn't do any of them anymore; that he's just too exhausted. And I don't blame him. He looks terrible, John. I just feel awful not knowing what to do for him."

"Well, if he continues on this path he's chosen for himself, he's going to do more harm than good. If he doesn't find a way to get better sleep by tonight, I'll make sure he gets a sedative tomorrow."

The cell phone in Doggett's pocket went off. He looked on the screen to see who was calling, which read: SKINNER. He walked back into his bedroom to flip open the cell phone and answered it,

"Doggett."

"Mulder and Scully are arriving tonight in D.C. I met them at the border and we've been driving since."

"I'm sure a plane ride would have been shorter."

"Less paper work, and besides, I didn't want all of the FBI to know of their whereabouts as well."

"Right." Doggett hesitated before beginning his next train of thought, "Hey, there's been a breach of information coming from either Kersh, Reyes, you and I."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Agent Leyla Harrison was slipped a file this morning containing the whereabouts of… Andrew Lucas."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Then Skinner spoke, "Well, we've got to find him before they do."

"My feelings exactly. Didn't Agent Kersh retire?"

"He did. I'll get in touch with him soon. And don't worry, I think the less he knows about our situation the better."

"Sir," Doggett began to say, "Do you feel like we're being played?"

"Like an old violin."

A couple of short soft beeps could be heard on John Doggett's end of the line. "Skinner, I've got an incoming call from Agent Harrison. She's got the DNA results from William. I'll talk to you later." He pressed a button to switch over the phone call to Agent Harrison. "Doggett here. Talk to me, what d'ya got?"

Her mousy voice mustered up the courage to speak the results, "Well, there's a lot of information I don't feel comfortable discussing over the phone about, but his blood definitely matches the blood records of Mulder and Scully's."


	11. Reunion

"Mom!" Will heard his own voice shout out. He looked down at his hands and everything looked the same. His body was his own. He looked around the dark room and didn't recognize anything inside it. The walls were black and hard; the floors were grey and each proceeding step felt like walking on Astroturf. He heard some movement on the wall behind him and he turned around. The wall shifted its movements and the transformation shivered into a window. William walked over to the window to peer through it and discovered two human adults lying on what appeared to be a surgical table. The faces looked familiar, but he wanted to get a closer look at the adults.

A door appeared out of nowhere and opened for William to walk through. He walked through to discover some of the foreboding creatures working the equipment in this lab. There was one male and one female on the experimental tables; they were his parents. His father was groaning, but he could hear the mother sobbing helplessly to herself.

"Do it," William coldly commanded.

The entire room went silent as the alien creatures started the procedure. Mr. and Mrs. Van de Kamp were sedated but awake. Their eyes were raw with spent tears, and in fear of what was happening to them. William walked over to them and curiously touched his mother's hair. Mrs. Van de Kamp looked on to her boy and feared what she saw. William sensed a grin forming on his face.

"Don't worry, I have plans for you both. This will all be over soon."

Both of his parents bodies were turned to their sides and a six-pronged needle aligned its' mechanical arms along the spinal cords of the two adults. The needles pierced the skin of their backs and the serum was injected. Trickles of blood were pouring out of the punctured wounds of both adults who started screaming.

_When this is done, you won't remember a thing. But I can help you with the recovery._ Will smiled maliciously to himself.

* * *

5:36 P.M.

Will awoke with a jerk and sat straight up in bed. He must have fallen asleep on the couch in the Doggett living room and then was carried to his guest bedroom. Shaken, his face was clammy and drenched in sweat. He couldn't believe what he just saw in his vision; his parents, all that blood. The atrocities and torture that Liam was performing on his parents was so hideously cruel and perverted that it made William want to vomit. He felt the gag reflex quickly gurgle up the back of his throat and he immediately got out of bed and ran to the bathroom next to his room to throw up. Clenching the sides of the toilet bowl his limbs were trembling and twitching. He didn't feel good at all. He sat on the bathroom floor to try and regain composure, but it was no use. He leaned back against the wall by the toilet and covered his face with his hands. Teardrops fell down his face and landed on his shirt.

* * *

"Well, this is the place," Skinner remarked has they pulled up to a stop in front of the Doggett residence.

Both Mulder and Scully sat in the car silent. Mulder looked over at Scully who seemed still and frozen in thought.

"Are you ok?" Mulder asked. She looked up at Mulder and sighed.

"I… I don't know. I never even knew I would ever see William again and now…" she scoffed at herself. She couldn't believe they were here already. "Throughout this whole ride here… I've contemplated on what to even say to him. I just don't know."

"Well, if he's anything that's been described about him, he'll know what you mean."

The entire party got up and out of Skinner's car. Mulder walked over to Scully and gently caressed her with a hug. "I think giving him a hug, which is long past overdue, would be a good place to start."

To which Scully chuckled and preemptive tears fell out of the corners of her eyes. When the moment was right, they both pulled away from each other and locked hands as they walked up to the Doggett house together.

* * *

"They're here," Leyla Harrison said as she peered through the window.

"Could you get the door please!" shouted Reyes from the kitchen. Skinner approached the door and was barely able to get his first knock in when Harrison opened it.

"Hello," Leyla Harrison greeted with a beaming smile, "Agent Skinner, Mulder, Scully." She shook Skinner's hand, and was quickly hugged by Mulder then Scully who was right behind him.

Skinner, Mulder and Scully all filed into the living room as Doggett and Reyes walked in together from the kitchen.

"Woo! Now it's a party," chimed in Mulder. Each person had greeted one another in their own fashion; either with a handshake or a congenial hug.

Doggett came over and firmly shook Mulder in the hand.

"Mulder, glad you could make it. How was the trip?"

"John! It went well. How are you? You've been busy I see." Mulder looked over in Monica's direction who was greeting Scully.

Scully walked up to Reyes and gave her a heartfelt hug.

"Monica." Scully smiled.

"Dana." Reyes replied.

"You look absolutely radiant," said Scully stepping back to look at her, "I believe congratulations are in order."

"Oh! Yeah," she held up her left hand to show her wedding band saying, "For five years, this past May. And this little one…" she continued, looking down as she rubbed her hand over her swollen belly, "I definitely didn't expect to happen."

Scully walked over to Doggett and Mulder walked over to Reyes and they all exchanged hugs between themselves.

"John, how are you doing?" Scully asked.

"I'm hanging in there. Dana you look great," Doggett replied.

"Congratulations Monica," Mulder said stepping back with a smile. When the greeting seemed to end everyone in the room settled down to a chair or couch in the living room.

"When are you both due?" Scully asked out loud while sitting down on the end of a couch.

"September 23rd," smiled Doggett as he looked to his wife. He began massaging the wedding band on his ring finger with his opposable thumb.

"Glad to hear the X-Files is still running," Mulder stated.

"Well, with its history, there have been a number of close calls," replied Reyes.

"You must be doing something good then. I would be more concerned if they hadn't tried," commented Skinner.

"Um, where is… uh…" Scully asked looking around the room for signs of William.

"He's been having trouble sleeping since the incident. He finally fell asleep earlier this afternoon and is resting in his bedroom."

Leyla Harrison coughed, breaking the direction of focus in the conversation to her. She had been waiting patiently to contribute the information she had on William. Everyone had stopped and looked at Agent Harrison. Nervously, she piped out, "Well, as everyone knows or was recently told, the DNA test results do prove that both Scully and Mulder are William's biological parents."

She handed the file to Scully, who opened the file and saw the prints.

"How many times did you run the test?" Scully asked.

"Three times and got the same result each time."

"Oh my god. His iron and potassium levels are through the roof. More so than any eleven year old child should have."

"And that's not all, on some level he's related to these particular people in the system as well."

Scully took out the sheets of paper that contained the list of names. There were three sheets of paper, each with three columns containing the names of the said related people. Skinner walked over to Scully and looked over her shoulder.

"This is unbelievable," Scully said passing the papers to Mulder who then handed them to Skinner.

"What took me so long getting here was not just getting the DNA prints of William, but of all the individuals I could get on those sheets. I couldn't get them all but there's a strange identical band that's distinct on each electrophoresis chart."

Looking at William's chart and comparing it to Mulder's and Scully's, it seemed like a definite match. However, it appeared that there were four additional bright nucleotide bands on Will's charts that didn't exist in either Mulder or Scully's charts. Looking at the other charts of the other people they too had a similar bright nucleotide band placed in exactly the same spot as William's.

Mulder took the remaining stack of charts and was flipping through each one as if searching for a specific chart. Mulder was hoping Harrison had managed to get this chart.

"A ha!" exclaimed Mulder as he compared it to William's.

"What do you have Mulder?" Skinner asked.

"Leyla, thank you for getting this one," said Mulder.

"Um, no problem," responded Harrison, unsure how she pleased him.

"This, my friends, is the chart of Gibson Praise. I was hoping you'd get this chart because if you notice here. There's a highlighted band that both he and Gibson Praise share unlike these other common ones. William has the ability to read minds, right? So does Gibson. What else did he mention that he could do?"

"He said that he could shape-shift and move things with his mind," contributed Doggett.

"There's one band here that he has and these other people have…" Mulder stopped talking because he just realized the fear in his theory.

"What are you thinking Mulder?" asked Reyes.

"These people on these papers are all the people you've gathered within the FBI system with the same nucleotide?"

"Yeah," said Harrison.

Mulder inhaled and slowly sighed. He continued more slowly this time, "The last time we were here, there were Super Soldiers that had infiltrated the FBI and had impersonated at FBI agents. There's no telling how many people were turned into Super Soldiers since then. These lists of names that you have here are all the Super Soldiers that have been tested within the FBI. Meaning that he has a fourth ability; he can heal pretty damn quickly."

"I already thought of that and checked the back of his neck. It's normal. He can't be a Super Soldier," claimed Doggett.

"So you are saying that each of these brightly lit bands here on the chart represents a certain ability that William has?" asked Reyes.

"Mulder, that's a pretty huge leap," replied Skinner.

"You're basing that theory off of circumstantial evidence, Mulder. And off of an electrophoresis. In order to cement your theory we would have to have DNA sequenced every person on these three sheets of paper," stated Scully. To which Mulder simply shrugged.

William finally left the bathroom and staggered into the living room where all of the adults had gathered. He kept his hand on the wall to steady himself. Scully was the first person to notice William enter the room and stood up, dropping all the papers she had on her lap to the ground. Everyone's heads turned and their eyes focused on William. All the gentlemen stood up in the room. She stood there staring into her son's blue-orbed eyes. Everyone was speechless as Scully walked over to where William stood. She didn't know what to say. She wanted to say everything that had weighed on her heart for the past decade but nothing seemed appropriate. She immediately started crying and sobbing. William couldn't tell if the tears were out of joy or sadness, perhaps both. The moment felt bittersweet.

She lifted up her hands to slowly touch William's head, reenacting the dream she had dreamt so many times in the past years. William closed his eyes as tears fell down his face. Her hands were so warm and welcoming to the touch. They both fell into a hug. More tears fell down Scully's face. William couldn't articulate the feeling. He didn't know this complete stranger, but for some reason he felt at peace. The embrace was euphoric and felt like forever; he didn't want to let go. For days he struggled with the demons that lie within his subconscious and felt no serenity until now. He felt like he was at home again and that he could finally rest. Scully didn't want to pull away but she had to look at his face, it all felt too good to be true. She sniffled and smiled as she combed his chocolate brown hair back with her fingers. William opened his eyes and became dizzy. His vision blurred and all he could see was the mother he knew.

"Mom…" cried William and he collapsed in Scully's arms and fainted.


	12. Introductions

William opened eyes slowly looking up at the ceiling of the Doggett living room. Looking around the room he could make out six different faces all staring back at him. A friendly voice next to him asked,

"Hey there. Do you think you can sit up?"

Will nodded looking at the woman. She had long light red hair and eyes that were red from crying. Will sat up slowly and scooted himself over to the front of a couch to lean his back against.

"Monica, do you have any juice?" the lady asked as she scooted closer to Will's right side on the floor.

"Oh, I've got orange juice in the fridge, I'll be right back," she replied as she scurried off to the kitchen. William was staring at this lady's face. They both looked into each other's eyes, and he could tell the resemblance. He definitely had her eye color and lips. "William, I'm a doctor, my name is Dana Scully. Do you know where you're at?"

William nodded. Reyes walked back into the living room with a glass of juice in her hands.

"Do you recognize any of the people in this room?"

Will scanned the room left to right. A man who sat on his left didn't look familiar, yet they strangely had the same nose and eye shape. Another man he didn't recognize sat on the couch behind him; he wore glasses and his head was bald. Agent Harrison stood helplessly next to the coffee table and waved at Will with a smile. Doggett stood a few feet in front of him leaning up against the kitchen wall and Reyes stood behind Scully handing Will the glass of orange juice.

"I recognize Agent Harrison, John, Monica… and I see you Dana Scully." To which both Will and Scully smiled.

"Can't you hear our thoughts?" the man to Will's immediate left inquired.

"Not right now. My head feels like it's swimming, and I'm actually kind of tired."

Disappointed, the man offered his hand to shake and introduced himself, "I'm Fox Mulder."

"Your first name is Fox? Really?" Will asked, to which Mulder rolled his eyes. "That's actually pretty cool."

The two of them shook hands and Mulder replied, "If only you were there to explain that to the rest of my colleagues growing up. Just call me Mulder."

"I'm Will."

"Walter Skinner. Just Will?" Skinner stood up shaking Will's hand.

"Yeah," Will smiled. Once he finished the glass of orange juice he handed it back to Reyes.

"Do you think you can walk to your bedroom?" Scully asked.

"Yeah, I think so." William used Scully and Mulder as a brace to stand up. He felt slightly dizzy and he trembled slightly. He felt like he was about to fall again. Noticing Will's wobble, Mulder suggested, "How about I carry you instead?" Will nodded and was scooped up Mulder.

"Monica, you wouldn't happen to have any soup or saltines?" Scully inquired.

"Both, actually. I'll get started on the soup." Reyes replied.

"I'll get the crackers and show you the room," Doggett chimed directing Mulder carrying Will to the room. Doggett led the way to Will's bedroom as Mulder and Scully followed closely behind. It appeared that everyone in the house was doing something except Agents Harrison and Skinner. Feeling awkward with the silence Agent Harrison stood up and said, "I'm going to go see what I can do to help Agent Reyes in the kitchen."

"I think I will too," agreed Agent Skinner.

* * *

Doggett opened the door to the bedroom William resided in. Mulder carrying William was followed by Scully into the bedroom. Standing by the doorway, Doggett saw the family reunion and figured it best to leave them alone for the time being. He bowed out of the room and closed the door. Mulder gently laid William on the bed as if he was still an infant. Mulder grabbed a chair to sit beside Scully who was sitting on the bed next to William's feet. Breaking the silence Mulder stated, "You know, the last time I held you like that you were this big."

He held up his hands to demonstrate the length of his last recollection and held his hands about eighteen inches apart. Both Will and Scully grinned identically. Nothing was said, but Mulder could tell where Will got his quiet reservation from. Scully placed a caring hand on Will's knee and stared curiously at Will. Will looked back and forth at both Mulder and Scully.

_So these are my birth parents,_ Will thought.

"William," said Mulder, nodding his head in approval, "That's a good strong name that you have there. My father's name was William too. It means desire and protection."

"And Fox?" Will asked. Mulder smiled and took a deep before responding, "Not as strong of a name. However, I believe that it's actually derived from the Scandinavian term _Faulkes_, which in translation means Falcon or Falconer, or Hawk-hunter."

Both William and Scully gave Mulder an incredulous look. "Really?" inquired Scully.

"Or it could mean an actual 'fox' and the 60's were incredibly cruel to me."

The room went back to being silent. Scully could only imagine what Will was feeling at this moment. Seeing that Will was tired, she had something she wanted to get off her chest before he slept. She looked down at the bedding, unsure on how to word what was on her mind. She spoke hesitantly, "Will… I can only imagine what you're going through, but… I wanted to let you know that we don't ever intend on replacing your parents. That we," Scully looked at Mulder then back at Will, "have never stopped loving you." She paused for a moment then continued, "When you are ready to… have us, we would love to have you."

A couple of knocks could be heard and Doggett walked in with a food tray containing more juice, chicken noodle soup and crackers.

"Didn't mean to interrupt you guys. Here's something that should make you feel better Will," Doggett said setting up the tray on William's lap. "We'll be in the kitchen when you guys are done."

Mulder, Scully and Will all nodded as Doggett left the bedroom once again and closed the door.

"Chicken soup… mmm… dinner of champions," Mulder replied trying to lighten the mood.

"Often times when people pass out it's usually because they don't drink enough fluids. I think if you eat and drink everything here plus some well needed rest, you'll be right as rain. Are you ok?" Scully asked.

"I believe so… strange… I… feel so much better when you're around," Will said looking at Scully. Scully grinned ear to ear. She too felt whole again.

"And what about me?" Mulder asked.

"Well, I haven't felt like myself lately," Will closed his eyes and waved his hands in front of Mulder's face as if performing a Jedi mind trick, "but I sense great potential in you," Will opened his eyes and grinned, turning the mood of the conversation from serious to playful. He had almost forgotten how good it felt to smile again.

"Oh ho! We've got a kidder here," Mulder smiled back.

"A sense of humor is always a good sign. We'll let you eat in peace. But holler if you need anything, ok? We won't be too far away." Scully rubbed her son's legs and gave a comforting pat before standing up and heading toward the door. Mulder gestured with his hands, "I've got my eyes on you." He then smiled and waved before heading out the door. Scully followed Mulder to the door and halted. She turned around slowly to look at William and gave him a loving smile. Will looked back at her and reciprocated the expression. They both mutually understood each other and were at peace.

"Good night," Scully said softly to Will. She really wanted to hug and kiss him good night, like she did over ten years ago.

"Night."

* * *

Skinner clutched his coffee as Reyes filled the tea kettle with water. The hours of traveling from the Canadian border was finally catching up to him. Both he and Agent Harrison sat on the stools by the kitchen counter. Doggett stood up against the counter inside the kitchen next to the sink holding his freshly brewed coffee. Harrison took a sip of her coffee before speaking, "I totally agree with your idea Agent Doggett."

"Which one was that?"

"I'll go back to the office and be on the lookout for anything bizarre, well, more bizarre than usual. That way I'll be able to intercept any other mysterious files and such. I seem to be the receptor of odd information anyways." She took another sip of the coffee. The hazelnut creamer permeated through to her nostrils which gave her a moment of solace. Out of that moment of serenity she remembered the file that she still had in her briefcase. "Ooh… that reminds me."

Agent Harrison got up off her stool and placed the mug of coffee on the counter. She walked over to her brief case which she left by the doorway. She fingered through the other files she stuffed in the briefcase until she found the one she was given earlier in the day. "This was the file that was pushed under my door this morning."

She walked back to the kitchen where everyone stood and watched her hand the file to Skinner.

"Look, I've got to head on out," said Harrison as she grabbed her jacket and slipped it on. "If I've been unknowingly nominated for some strange reason and I have to find out who's been tapping my shoulder. So, I think the less I know the better. That way if I'm compromised, I won't have a lot of information to relay. This_ is_ a war… is it not?"

Her words were quick, direct and poignant. The entire room took heed to what she said and felt the gravitas of their situation finally being thrust upon them. Everyone in the room realized that this was a war that would undoubtedly lead to their end. Doggett felt that these past ten years had been squandered away in ignorance and denial. Life was forced to move on. The government had gotten better at denying any existence of extra-terrestrials. So much so, that it's been over a decade since their last reunion and the admittance of an alien apocalypse. Doggett couldn't believe this was happening. And his life, marriage, and now kid on-the-way, was evidence of his disbelief. There was no way that they were prepared for what was coming their way. The entire room went silent with that sobering thought.

"Something smells good in here," Mulder said gleefully entering the kitchen. His comment broke the silence. Scully followed Mulder and stood beside Skinner next to the counter. Mulder stood in front of the refrigerator.

"That would be good old fashioned coffee brewed by yours truly," Doggett said handing Mulder an empty mug.

"I've boiled some hot water for tea if any of you are interested," Reyes said reaching for the kettle which was now steaming.

"I would actually love some tea," said Scully who received an empty mug from Doggett. Scully looked over at Agent Harrison who looked ready to leave. Scully asked, "You leaving already?"

"Yeah, I've got to go home and then back to work and do some of my own investigative work. Someone has been using me to relay this information to you, and I want to know who it is and why." Harrison paused before continuing, "I don't want to be the reason you guys fail."

Feeling the awkwardness in the room, Agent Harrison swallowed and bowed out of the room.

"It's been in my experience," Mulder addressed Agent Harrison, stopping her in her tracks, "that the 'why' often times explains the 'who'. Don't go into this alone. It's in the solidarity of people that there is still hope left in this world; and the camaraderie of those people that brings forth the best part of our humanity. If you try, you will gain the knowledge and experience necessary to never fail. I have the upmost confidence in you Leyla."

Mulder lifted his cup of coffee to toast the moment to her. Everyone else nodded and followed suit in agreement. Agent Harrison was honored by the boost of confidence given by Mulder and the rest of the group. She was touched by the gesture, which made Harrison want to cry.

Doggett smiled and asked, "Do you still have that Apollo 11 medallion?"

"Always," Harrison replied, smiling as she lifted the chain that had been hanging around her neck. The medallion hung delicately on a beautiful chain and it reflected well in the kitchen light. Mulder wrapped his arm around Scully's shoulders as they both grinned to themselves over the significance and sentiment of the item. "Thanks you guys. I'll call if I get any news."

When Agent Harrison left, Reyes asked, "What Medallion?"

Doggett raised his eyebrows in surprise. He neglected to mention that one detail prior to their marriage. Realizing that both Reyes and Skinner were out of the loop, Doggett went ahead and explained, "I handed the Medallion years ago to Agent Harrison to show her my support. That it symbolized the fruitful results of teamwork and camaraderie. It was actually Scully who gave it to me when I first started working on the X-Files."

"Well…" Mulder held up his finger to interject, but Scully looked right at him with an eyebrow raise. Mulder looked at Scully and decided against his intention to explain the medal's origin. Instead he said, "Well… that's a nice gesture."

"I concur, however this gesture is not." Skinner was done skimming through the contents within the folder that Agent Harrison left behind. "This file has everything containing the personal information and whereabouts of Andrew Lucas."

"Who's Andrew Lucas?" Scully asked.

"Andrew Lucas is Gibson Praise."

"What?" Mulder exclaimed.

"When we escaped from that prison, we all met at a rendezvous point, remember? It was me, you, Scully, Doggett, Reyes, Kersh and Gibson. When Reyes and Doggett got back from their venture to New Mexico chasing after you guys, we all sat down and pulled our resources together to make sure Gibson Praise was secretly relocated with a foster family under Witness Protective Services. We made sure that the only people who knew of his true identity were Kersh, Doggett, Reyes and I. However, there's been a leak. I haven't spoken to Kersh in a while, but it appears that I'm going to have to look him up again and see what he knows. Since we don't know whether or not he's been compromised, I'll make sure to not let him know of your current whereabouts." Skinner finished the rest of his coffee and opened the folder for everyone in the kitchen to see.

"So this is the folder Leyla was slipped," Doggett remarked.

"This is obviously a taunt. The powers that be must want us to find him." Reyes concluded.

"How do you mean?" Skinner asked.

"Well, think about it. This information was too readily available. I mean, this information that was given to us, was just way too convenient."

"But if these 'Powers that Be' already know where he is, why not take him out themselves?" Mulder asked.

"Perhaps Gibson no longer poses a threat. What if… they want us to find him? What if Gibson and William meeting were clandestine? And if we know about their possible meeting, couldn't this also benefit us? The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Meaning, there's someone out there in high places that's looking out for us."

"Or perhaps it's someone with so much power that exploiting it, or us, is just a means to its end," spoke Scully solemnly.

"Where is Gibson's current location?" Mulder asked.

"Middlefield, Ohio."


	13. Hearing Things

WASHINGTON D.C.

AUGUST 16TH, 2012 7:17 A.M.

Will opened his eyes and was relieved to see the skylight in his bedroom. The color of the sky was a dark grayish blue and it hinted of decent morning. His mind was clear and his body felt truly rested. He took a deep breath, sat up in bed and stretched every muscle in his body. It was nice for a change to not be soaked in fear-drenched sweat. He swung both feet off the mattress and he sat towards the edge of the bed allowing his feet to dangle. He looked down at his feet as he wiggled his toes.

_What time is it? _He wondered.

He stepped outside the bedroom and walked to the living room. He grinned to himself noticing Dana Scully asleep on the couch.

_Alone?_

He looked around the living room for Mulder. The room was silent and still. He could hear the clock on the mantle silently click away the seconds. He walked to the front door and carefully turned the door knob so that the door's clicking didn't disturb anybody still sleeping. He wanted to step outside and breathe some fresh air. It felt like it had been a while. He could definitely tell that he was in the city; the air had a much drier, coarse, artificial scent. At home, the air seemed thicker, more organic and fuller. However, the 73 degree temperature was enough to make anyone appreciate a beautiful morning. He never realized this but the Doggett property sat on the corner of a street intersection. He looked up and down the street and loved how undisturbed the neighborhood looked from the outside.

_~He's it… around the corner… he doesn't notice…~_

William looked around wildly, thinking the worse. It sounded like distant whispers from around the corner of the house. He definitely had his abilities back.

_My abilities?_

He looked down at his hands. Creeping to the corner against the wall of the house, he saw a large stick on the ground and attempted to use his energy to try and bring it to him without moving from where he stood. Then he saw a couple of joggers cross around the corner on the street of the Doggett property. A couple of ladies were gabbing to one another as they came around the corner, "…So I said to myself, 'He's the one, the love of my life'. But I swear at work, he just doesn't seem to notice me…"

The stick dropped to the ground and Will exhaled. The other jogger simply nodded to the story she was listening too and they passed the property. His heart was beating a million miles a minute.

"Will!"

William jumped in place to see Scully at the front door steps.

"What are you doing out here?" Scully asked.

Will stammered, "I… I… wanted to get some fresh air. And I… uh… thought I heard something."

"Don't scare me like that," she said as Will walked back inside the house. "And if I were you," she continued, "I would try to be a little more discreet in practicing your… gifts." _~I saw you out there lifting a stick, with civilians outside. Dangerous. Anyone could have seen you~_

"I'll go in the back yard next time for more privacy," Will replied, understanding her sentiment. They had both entered the kitchen when Will asked, "Ms. Scully, where's Mulder?"

"Mulder and Doggett are out and away looking for an old friend of ours." _~Gibson Praise. Ohio. Where are the bowls?~_

Scully had grabbed the milk and cereal and was evidently preparing breakfast for the both of them.

"Second cabinet to the right of the stove, first shelf."

Surprised, Scully responded, "Well… I guess I'm glad to see that your abilities have returned." She found the bowls and started pouring cereal.

"Well, anyone could have guessed what you were going to get next," he said looking down at the cereal and milk.

"Ah, I see," Scully said as she handed him a bowl of cereal. "And I know where the spoons are. That I do remember."

"Lucky Charms, my favorite! How did you know?" Will said, smiling. He was joking over the fact that she couldn't read minds, but he played it off like she could.

Scully chuckled to herself as she handed Will a spoon. "Well, if you're like anybody else I know, you'd prefer something a little more sugary. Call it, a mother's instinct," she grinned. "Or, you could just still be a kid after all and prefer that over your other choice." Scully lifted her bowl of Raisin Bran to which Will reacted with a look of disgust on his face.

They both dug into their individual bowls of cereal enjoying the silence and studying each other's nuances and eating habits. Scully held her spoon like she was writing the Declaration of Independence. He grabbed his spoon like a shovel and was scooping cereal into his mouth like a child would shovel sand into a bucket. William looked down at his spoon and realized how crude his eating habits were. While Scully was looking away and reading the nutritional facts label on the cereal box, William attempted to switch his hand position and adopt Scully's graceful eating style. He never realized how far away from the farm he was until now. Scully looked back at William who was now studying and playing with his cereal.

"What's the matter? You seem pensive," Scully remarked.

"Why did you come here? Why did you come back to this?"

Scully was caught off by his out-of-the-blue question. Scully wasn't really sure how to respond so she decided to play coy. "What do you mean?"

"I feel… like, something absolutely horrible is going to happen. My parents, well… the people who took care of me…"

It crushed Scully to hear those words come out of his mouth, and what she was about to say crushed her soul a little bit.

"You can still call them your parents. They did love and take care of you."

"You say it in the past tense. Like, you think they're dead."

"Well, sweetheart, they way you described your escape. What makes you think they survived?"

"I just… have a feeling that they still are alive. I can't explain it exactly. I see them in my horrible dreams."

"Did you have any nightmares last night?"

"No. It was nice for a change actually."

"Well, I ask because you slept for about 36 hours straight."

"Wow. Really?"

"Reyes and I took turns attempting to wake you up so that you could eat, but you were so exhausted while you ate that we figured it best for you to rest as much as possible; especially with what you've been through. Well, I tell you. If you were still asleep I would have woken you up by now."

A moment of silence was passed between the two as they both continued eating the rest of their cereal. Scully knew that William could read her thoughts so there was no use in trying to hide what she really wanted to say to him.

"You asked me why I came back?"

Will paused his eating to look up at Scully and nodded.

"I came back because… despite the craziness of this world, you have always given me hope. And you may or may not want to believe this, but I truly never stopped loving you." Scully's eyes were beginning to water. "Every year, every birthday; your first steps, your first words. I've missed them all, and I've hated myself for that. I wanted to say sorry; I wanted to say thank you. I have wanted to hug and kiss you for every moment I've missed you."

A single tear fell down her face. Will got up out of his chair and silently walked over to Scully to hug her. Scully held the boy's head to her chest and Will could hear Scully's steady heartbeat. She kissed the top of Will's head as she laid her head against his placing one hand around his shoulders and the other around his head.

"I may not know a lot about you, but I love you too," Will responded. Multiple tears fell down both their faces. William desperately missed his mother, and was now hugging Scully for every moment he missed his adoptive mother.

* * *

MIDDLEFIELD PUBLIC LIBRARY

MIDDLEFIELD, OHIO 12:35 P.M.

Driving past a gas station, the price for unleaded gas was marked $2.95 a gallon. Agent Doggett drove into the parking lot of the library and remarked to Mulder who was sitting in the passenger seat, "Phew! I'm glad I filled my tank when I did!"

"Yeah, because $2.85 is so much cheaper," replied Mulder.

"When you're driving this vehicle it is," said Agent Doggett and he pulled into a parking spot. Both Mulder and Doggett stepped out of Doggett's black Ford Explorer and headed toward the library entrance.

"I only knew where Gibson's foster family was. According to the file it says he's currently working at the library here."

"Well, no time like the present," said Mulder as he allowed Agent Doggett to step into the building first.

Both Agent Doggett and Mulder approached the front desk where an old female librarian sat hovering over her computer screen. She looked up over her half-framed spectacles and said, "May I help you gentlemen?"

The entire building seemed deserted. The librarian looked up at two mysterious fellows with a skeptical eye.

"Hi, we're looking for a man named…" But before Mulder could complete his sentence a young man with glasses came around the corner with a cart full of books.

"Mulder! Doggett!" he exclaimed as he walked over to the two gentlemen to hug them.

"Andy, you know these men?" the librarian asked.

"Oh boy, do I!" remarked Gibson jovially. After hugging both Agent Doggett and Mulder, Gibson turned around at the librarian who was giving them a scrutinizing look. "C'mon guys, let's go outside and talk."

They took their reunion party to a bench outside the building and out of the view of the librarian. Gibson slowed down his walking pace as if realizing something, "Uh oh".

"What?" Doggett asked.

"You guys are back, meaning something bad is happening. You need me to go back with you. William's returned. He needs my help. NO!" Gibson bolted toward the other end of the building to get away from Mulder and Doggett.

"Gibson!" Mulder shouted, chasing after Gibson.

"Your life is in danger," remarked Agent Doggett following Gibson around the other side of the building.

"Yeah, my life is always in danger when it involves you guys."

"Well, since you can read our minds, read this: there's been a leak and someone's ID'd you and pinpointed your location. How else were we able to locate you?" pointed out Agent Doggett.

"This is it then," Gibson replied somberly. He halted in his steps and leaned up against the wall of the brick building. He continued, "I've always sensed their presence, but nothing like this before."

"What do you mean?" asked Mulder.

"My range in which I can hear people's thoughts has expanded. I thought I heard you guys coming from a mile away, and it wasn't confirmed until you walked through that door. In this small town, I have only managed to cope with it and kept below their radar, and honestly, I intend on keeping it that way."

"Well something led us to you. We don't know for sure whether the informant is good or not. But something wants us to bring you back," remarked Agent Doggett.

"My son, William, needs your help," replied Mulder. "Please, we need you."

There was a moment of silence that passed by between them. Gibson thought about what was said versus what he heard in his head. He still wasn't sure if he was ready to commit to another adventure that could very well end his life. He was a kid the last time he came forth to represent Mulder during his trial. A risk he was willing to take for Mulder. Especially for what Mulder did for him in the desert. Gibson lost his train of thought when he heard something in his head. He stood up and silently walked toward the edge of the road looking left and right down a deserted highway. Both Agent Doggett and Mulder followed the young man to the road and saw and heard nothing. The only thing that could be heard was the soft chirping of birds and buzzing of bugs.

"What's wrong Gibson?" Agent Doggett asked.

Breaking the silence, Gibson nervously turned around and started walking quickly back to the parking lot. "Let's get to your car. NOW!"

"What's happening? What's going on?" Doggett questioned as he clicked the button to unlock his S.U.V.

"What did you hear?" Mulder asked jumping into the vehicle.

"We need to go to my home quickly so that I can grab a few things. I believe there's still time…"

"Time for what?" Doggett asked.

"I'm coming with you."

"Why now?" Mulder asked looking back at him from the front passenger seat.

"They're here and they're coming to take this town."


	14. Sticks and Stones

_Dearest Awesome Fans,_

_I apologize for the delay in story writing. I was traveling to see my sister get married this past week and A) had no computer to continue writing and B) was extremely busy. I hope you understand. Don't worry, there's more to come, and I'm trying to pace myself to write at least one chapter a week. Unless I get super busy._

_I just wanted to thank you for reading my story. And if you get a chance, please leave a review every once in a while and let me know what you think. Much love! Oxox_

_

* * *

_

RICHMOND, VA

AUGUST 16TH, 2012 1:15 P.M.

Agent Skinner sat in his car in front of the Kersh residence. He wasn't sure how he was going to pull this off. He took a deep breath and wiped his face with his hand before stepping out of his car. He approached the front steps and knocked a couple of times on the door. Mrs. Kersh opened the door, and not recognizing who it was asked, "Hello. Can I help you?"

"Hello, I'm Agent Walter Skinner for the FBI," Skinner said showing his badge and continued, "I used to work for your husband about a decade ago."

After recognizing who he was she greeted him with a smile and said, "Well, you must be Walter. Alvin has been expecting you. Come on in and have a seat and I'll get him for you."

Skinner did not reciprocate the smile and simply nodded. Everything that's been going on lately was giving him less reason to smile and kept to his usual unbiased serious demeanor. Agent Skinner looked around the room and noticed the pictures of Kersh's family standing on the mantle over the fireplace in the living room. Before he considered thinking about sitting down, Alvin Kersh stepped into the room.

"Walter. I was surprised to get your phone call. C'mon, let's go outside and I'll get us both a drink."

"No. Thank you, Agent Kersh. There's something we need to talk about."

"Please, let's drop the formalities Walter. Call me Alvin, I'm retired remember? And shouldn't you be retired by now?" Kersh guided Skinner towards the back door of his house to a porch outside. The chairs were positioned overlooking a shimmering swimming pool; it looked wonderful glittering in the afternoon summer sun. Kersh noticed Skinner's uptight body language, which signified the possible seriousness and importance of his out-of-the-blue appearance at his doorstep. Kersh decided to play coy with Skinner's arrival and waited for him to explain his presence.

"Well, I would but I've realized that my job is what I've lived for. I work now at the FBI Academy as the Head of Communications department," said Skinner as they both sat down on the chairs.

"Well, so I've heard." There was an awkward silence that came between them. Kersh looked directly at Skinner trying to read his cold hard expression. Kersh continued, "Walter, it's been about a decade why have you decided to come visit me after all these years?"

Without hesitation Skinner responded, "Gibson's file came up in circulation. Someone knows his location, meaning that there's been a leak somewhere."

Kersh scoffed, and laughed unbelievingly. "Wow. I believe I'm going to go get myself that drink after all." Kersh got up and headed back toward the kitchen. Skinner got up and followed him there. Kersh grabbed a short glass for himself and placed a few cubes of ice into his cup. After pouring himself a glass of scotch Kersh gave a sigh and said, "And you think I leaked this information. To which you should already know that I didn't. You know, I told you I didn't believe Mulder was guilty."

"I understand that. But that still leaves Gibson's leaked information unaccountable for."

"What do you want me to say Walter? That I did it?" Kersh's tone was tense and his response sounded like he was insulted by the insinuation. "We agreed that once Gibson was safe, I'd go into retirement and not be put in a place that would jeopardize him or my family. I didn't agree with the court's call which is why I helped you all escape. That whole incident in court made me want to retire as soon as it was over, and you know what? I'm glad that it is. Just look at my home! Honestly, I enjoy my retirement and intend on living it blissfully."

"Don't you know what's at stake here? Gibson's life is in danger and you're just going to sit there?"

Skinner's voice had elevated along with Kersh's. Kersh waited calmly and stared at Skinner as he slowly finished the entire contents of his glass in one gulp. Kersh chose his next words carefully and wanted to be explicit on his intent as if this was going to be his final piece on the matter. Kersh lowered his voice and slowly but sternly spoke, "That boy is no longer my problem and should no longer be a problem to you or anyone anymore. He hasn't been for quite some time. Now, unless you want to talk about something else great, otherwise I suggest you leave."

Walter Skinner got up and walked out the door to his car to get back to D.C. He got the answer he wanted and knew when it was time to leave an interrogation.

* * *

MIDDLEFIELD, OHIO

1:25 P.M.

Gibson was scurrying around his bedroom stuffing whatever important items he could into two duffle bags. Clothes were thrown into one bag, and precious items, important documents, and trinkets were thrown into the other. Both Doggett and Mulder stood helplessly at his doorway both confused and anxious over Gibson's behavior.

"Are you sure there isn't anything that we can help you with?" Mulder asked.

"You still haven't explained why we're in such a rush," Doggett added.

"No, I need you guys to just shut up so that I can concentrate. It's bad enough that I hear voices in my head. To hear them outside my head right now isn't helping. I swear I'll explain it later once we get the hell out of here." To which Gibson paused in his actions and things went silent. He stood in place as if frozen in time. He slowly turned his head in the direction of which it seemed he was hearing the sounds and his ears perked up. His eyes grew frighteningly big when he barked out, "Mulder grab this," tossing a bag to Mulder and carrying the other, "Doggett get your keys out and get ready to just take off. Those aliens are here and are going to convert this town. We can't be here when that happens."

They all ran down the hallway, down the flight of stairs and out the door. Unlocking the doors with the keychain button they all threw themselves inside the vehicle and took off down the road.

"Any direction in which we need to be going?" Doggett asked.

"We need to make one last stop at my hide-away up here in the woods. I need to pick up something that could save our lives." Doggett was driving down the road at top speed. "Alright, the first road on the right that's coming up, take that road and go down it. I'll let you know when to stop."

Doggett slowed down as he made his right turn onto a dirt road. They kept driving down the road, tossing and turning in their seats when Gibson said, "Alright. Stop."

Gibson was the first to open the door when he said, "Don't worry. I'll be right back." To which Gibson hopped out of Doggett's explorer and ran out into the woods. Ten minutes later, to what seemed like forever for Doggett and Mulder, they both spotted Gibson coming out of the woods carrying what looked like metallic rock the size of an infant's head. Once Gibson jumped back into the vehicle, Doggett turned his truck around and proceeded back toward the main road. After getting on the main road they started heading back to town. Doggett knew that he needed to get through the town in order to get to the main highway to drive back home to D.C. Mulder turned around in his seat and looked back at Gibson quizzically, "What's that?"

"Alright, let me explain. I've come across this stone through my hiking in the woods close to the river here. I thought it was an interesting looking rock, so I brought it back to the house to clean it off more and get a better look at it. Nothing about it seemed bizarre, except a few moments later I heard silence. Like, I heard silence for the first time in my life. I couldn't hear anybody's thoughts in my head. So I brought it back to my hide-away spot to seek solace from the stress of school and everyday life."

"So you think this mutes your abilities?" Mulder asked looking at the perfectly rounded stone in Gibson's hands.

"Yeah, over the years, I began to wonder why this stone would be doing that, and then I thought about what Doggett told me when he and Agent Reyes went seeking you and Scully out in the desert. How he and Reyes narrowly escaped Knowle Rohrer through the magnetite within the Pueblo village. What if this is that magnetite?" Gibson theorized.

"If that is magnetite, why aren't you dead right now?" Doggett asked looking at Gibson through his rear view mirror.

"I guess, because I'm only part alien," stated Gibson.

"Well, the Super Soldiers, aren't they part alien as well?" Doggett wondered. Mulder chimed in with his own theory, "I think it's because they were once human and started out that way but through alien medical procedures became these Super Soldiers that we know today."

Mulder's own statement made him think back to his own abduction and torture and the evolution of Billy Miles. He shuddered at his own terrible reflected thought. "I believe that you've had your ability your entire life, right?" Mulder said addressing Gibson.

"Yeah."

"So you're saying that you think this stone will kill these Super Soldiers?" Doggett asked glimpsing at Mulder while zipping down the road.

"No, I think it's whatever that was injected into them that made them the alien-human hybrids…"

"…that we know today. I get it," said Doggett interrupting Mulder's thought. "Perhaps the chemical that the Super Soldiers were injected with to get this way, is their Achilles' heel. But what makes you think this stone is even going to work?"

"Scully told me about the Magnetite and the affect it had on the Super Soldiers. I'm guessing that this stone neutralizes the alien part of their make-up and makes them, well… temporarily human. Like for Gibson here," Mulder turned to look at Gibson, "How many other stones like this did you come across by the river?"

"That was the only one I've found. I never purposefully went out to search and collect more..."

"…Oh my god," Doggett interrupted Gibson. They all stared through the front window overlooking the entire town which was now set on fire. They couldn't believe their eyes as they saw the smoke pummel the skies. A giant black spaceship hovered the area and seemed to be constructing a station or antenna of some sort. They all saw this together and Gibson concluded out loud, "That must be the Tower."

"What's a Tower?" Mulder asked.

"Hold on to that thought and answer it later, right now we're being followed," responded Doggett who was looking through his rear view mirror. Both Mulder and Gibson turned around in their seats to notice a couple of dark SUV's and Hummers following behind them. The vehicle train seemed to be herding John Doggett's truck into the town of fire and construction. The only exit to the main road's highway to head home was through this town. They all had to make it to the end alive somehow.

A high speed chase was in pursuit as they entered the small city. John's vehicle was dodging debris and upturned cars that were lying awkwardly on the roadside. Fire licked the outside building walls of antique stores and tourist shops. Buildings were exploding to the left and right of them as they barely escaped the collision of hurling rubble.

"Hold on to something," said Doggett as he swerved to dodge people who were running out of the buildings screaming and being captured. He made a sharp turn left when Doggett, Mulder and Gibson saw a couple of beams streaming down beside them narrowly missing their vehicle. The beams of light were transporting large groups of people onto the ship. For what purpose? None of them knew.

Doggett saw the exit coming up on the road but was frightened to see groups of Super Soldiers blocking their way. So many Super Soldiers were approaching them that there was no way to simply run them over and take off. He was forced to slow down to a halt.

"Boy, I sure hope you all were right about this." Doggett reached into the glove department and pulled out his gun. They all looked around the vehicle from inside John Doggett's car. They were completely surrounded by Super Soldiers who looked like average citizens on a mission to destroy. Doggett turned off the safety to his gun and cocked it. He wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Gibson, where's the stone?" Mulder asked.

"Right here in my hands." Right when the Super Soldiers got close to the car, the look of focus and determination on their faces faded away and was immediately replaced by daze and confusion.

"What the hell is going on? Why aren't they attacking us?" asked Doggett.

"I'm about as lost as you guys. I can't hear any of their thoughts," replied Gibson.

Doggett slowly drove forward through the crowd of bewildered Super Soldiers. He felt like he was threading the eye of a needle with his slow driving, being careful not to run over anybody. It was the eeriest feeling being inside that car looking out upon the dozens of faces of people who seemed to not know why they were standing there in the first place. The rest of the crowd stepped back away from the vehicle and granted them passage through to the main highway. Once the road was clear of people, Doggett took off at top speed to head back home.

"What just happened back there?" Gibson asked.

Mulder replied, "They let us go."


	15. No Place Like Home

DOGGETT RESIDENCE

AUGUST 18TH, 2012 10:15 A.M.

Monica Reyes was holding her cell phone as if it was the only thing keeping her grounded. She sat at the edge of her bed after just getting off the phone with her husband. Stunned and bewildered by what she heard him say, she stared at the floor; it was a good stare. The stare seemed more like a trance, which gave the feeling of security, control and steadiness. She could hear bits of what Doggett said to her on the phone.

"We've found Gibson and have him…

"We barely escaped… Black spaceship… Beams of light… Fire… We were chased…

"Surrounded by Super Soldiers…

"Gibson has a stone that mutes Alien abilities… That's how we escaped….

"I think the stone Gibson has could be another kind of Magnetite similar to what Scully found."

"I should be home soon. I'm aiming to arrive sometime later this evening. Don't worry, I'm safe. I love you."

The cigarette craving she used to have years ago was starting to come back. She also really wanted a cup of coffee, none of which was good for her unborn child. She stood up from her bed and left her bedroom to head for the kitchen to make herself another pot of tea. She waddled over to the kitchen and to her surprise saw that there was already a kettle there full of hot water. She looked up and saw Scully staring through the kitchen window holding a cup of tea herself.

"Well, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only tea-drinker in the house," remarked Reyes getting herself another mug from the cabinet. Scully didn't move from her spot and continued staring out the window. Reyes continued, "Hey, so I take it that your conversation with your mother yesterday went well. Aren't you guys going over there to see her?"

"This afternoon for lunch. We've talked on and off throughout the years since our departure, but it's been over ten years since the last time I saw her. She hasn't seen William for that long either. I… just… don't know how William will react to her. I know it will be slightly awkward for me to see her, but for him to meet my mother, his grandmother… I just don't know."

Reyes dipped the teabag into the hot water within her mug and stood next to Scully looking out the window. Reyes saw what Scully was looking at. Will stood outside on the porch leaning against the railing. He was reading one of the books from her library and telekinetically raking their lawn with the fingers of his left hand. Both Reyes and Scully stood there as they watched Will make decent debris piles in her backyard. Amazed and entranced Scully commented on the subject, "And then there's that to explain to my mother."

* * *

"Hey Will," Scully said as she stepped outside the back porch. She walked over and leaned her arms on top of the railing next to Will.

"How's it going?" she asked looking over at the multiple leaf-piles he created. Will was so distracted by the passage he was reading that he had dug out five holes surrounding the leaf pile he was currently building; it looked as if a giant had been clawing at the ground for some time. Clumps of dirt were adding to the heap as he looked up at the evidence of his preoccupation.

"Oh! I didn't even realize what I was doing. I'm sorry I'll… fix that later," said Will nonchalantly. As he stood, he laid his head upon his folded arms and continued reading the book he had in front of him. Scully looked over and inquired, "Book must be good. What are you reading?"

Will closed the book and read the title out loud, "Peace: The Words and Inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi."

Surprised and curious, Scully replied, "Wow, that's a… very insightful book for an eleven year old. Shouldn't you be reading books like Harry Potter or Twilight?"

"I've already completed reading both series two years ago. Besides, I've been reading more interesting books lately. Stuff more relevant, more… uh, profound. I just finished reading a book about the Dalai Lama yesterday evening."

"Um, ok. Wow." Scully was surprised at his mature intellectual reading level, but felt that she was grasping at straws to some way connect with her long lost son.

She wondered, _~His social life must have been interesting~_

"I was loner."

"What?"

"I didn't have many friends in school. I skipped a grade and my schedule conflicted that of my friends my own age."

"Oh. Well, at least you and Mulder have something in common after all."

"Was he a loner too?"

"He was often alone in his extraordinary theories. And about nine out of ten times he's usually right. You see, Mulder is a very intelligent man who thought well outside the box. A lot of his ideas and beliefs often times separated him from the rest of his colleagues in the work place. It's not a bad thing, because that's what makes him original. And it takes courage to be original. You must have courage then, Will."

The pregnant pause allowed both individuals to ponder as they continued staring into the yard. "Ms. Scully, how do you deal with it?"

"Deal with what sweetheart?"

Will looked over at Scully and noticed a gold necklace with a cross dangling around her neck. He nodded toward her necklace and looked up. "I was brought up on the Christian Bible. I've read it through and through. There are things I understand and things I don't understand. Very much similar to these books I've read so far. After everything I've read and with all that's happened to me and what I'm expected to do, I don't even know what to believe in anymore. How do you deal with faith?"

Scully, having been caught off-guard by the question itself, thought momentarily about the topic and felt the cross with her hand that hung gracefully on her golden chain.

"Faith is having trust in things bigger than you. It's having the confidence in your convictions without proof." Scully sighed and continued, "As a scientist and a serious person, proof often times provides enough to satiate what the mind sees and thinks. However, the same evidences can also provide illusions which pacify the mind and contradict what you know in your heart already. My cross that I have here reminds me to believe."

"And what do you believe in?"

"Well, I believe in you, William." Will blushed and his ears were turning pink. A moment of silence passed between them. They both smiled and continued staring into the backyard. In that silence, Will could hear Scully's current immediate thoughts and purpose for coming out to see him.

"It's time to see my grandmother, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, actually. That is, if you're up for it, of course?"

"Sure. Let's go," he replied and they headed back inside to get ready to leave.

* * *

SCULLY RESIDENCE

6:47 P.M.

"As you can see, there isn't a whole lot, but it's something."

Mrs. Scully came over to the couch where Dana Scully and William were sitting with a photo album dressed in lacings. Dana Scully was blushing over the fact that she still had those photos. Mrs. Scully sat next to Will and opened his baby album before them. "This is your mother at her baby shower. We didn't even know if you were a boy or a girl. I never got any photos of when you were born, otherwise they would be in here too. And this one over here is of me while I was babysitting you. Right over there on that same chair I held you…"

"Mom…" interrupted Scully.

"Dana, please. Allow your mom to reminisce with her grandson."

Dana Scully sat on the other end of the couch silently keeping her thoughts to herself. Will understood how embarrassed she felt and the awkwardness of the situation. He wasn't sure how to react or explain to what's been truly going on, so he figured it best to just sit and listen. The past six hours were filled with greeting, crying, rejoicing, explanation and story-telling. Will learned a lot about Dana Scully. In regards to William, Dana Scully did explain that his adoptive parents were murdered and through tips was led back to his true birth parents. What she neglected to explain was the manner in which his adoptive parents died or how he came upon his abilities (Mrs. Scully didn't know about his unearthly talents). Knowing this, Will figured it best not to mention it either, since that was Scully's true intention.

"…and this one is of you taking a nap. This one over here is of you eating, and…" Mrs. Scully looked over at Will. "I know that look," Mrs. Scully said.

"What? What do you mean?" Will asked.

"I know that look because whenever your mother knows something but can't say it, she gives what I call 'The Reservation Look'. It's usually accompanied by long silences and an expression as if deep in thought."

Will was surprised by Mrs. Scully's precise intuition.

"I don't have a 'Look' Mom," replied Dana.

"Of course you do. When you were working with the FBI, it was whenever you were working on a case that involved the highest secrecy. You and your secrets Dana. I often wondered what it was that was so important to keep a secret from your own mother."

Mrs. Scully lifted her cup of tea off from the coffee table in front of them and sipped diligently at her hot brew. William wanted to tell his grandmother the truth about himself and about everything. He figured, _What else do I have to lose?_ He took a deep breath as if about to speak when he heard from Scully,

~_Please don't tell her. Please don't tell her! It's for her own safety that she doesn't know. Her life could be in danger. A woman her age should not have to deal with the paranoia of extra-terrestrials like I have in my life. Trust me, it's best she doesn't know~_

Scully's eyes bulged a bit from her sockets as she looked nervously from Will to her own mother. Will stood up from the couch and faced Mrs. Scully. "Um… Grandma? Thank you for lunch and everything."

Taking her cue from her own son, Scully got up as well.

"You're are most certainly welcome William."

"Hey Mom, I think we're going to head out," Scully replied picking up her purse and jacket, "I'll call you when we get back to the house we're staying at, ok?"

"Oh, ok. Please don't be strangers. Come and see me as often as you can! And William, before you leave…" Mrs. Scully got off the couch and scurried off to the kitchen. Will and Scully turned around by the door to find Mrs. Scully back with what looked like a birthday present. "Here. I got this for you," Mrs. Scully said handing the gift bag over to William.

"It's not my birthday though," replied Will as he pulled out a box from the bag containing an iPhone 5GS. "Woah!" exclaimed Will.

"Wow, Mom. You didn't have to do that," said Scully.

"I know, but this is for all the birthday's I've missed. You don't have to worry about any of the bills. I had the phone company help me add another line to my new family account. I just bought the phone today when I heard you were coming over. It's all set up. I've already added my contact information. That way, you can call me anytime you want."

"Wow, thanks… um, Grandma," said Will as he gratefully hugged Mrs. Scully. Mrs. Scully cried as she hugged and kissed his face tenderly. "Honey, I love you and it's my pleasure."

* * *

DOGGETT RESIDENCE

6:51 P.M.

Doggett pulled his vehicle into his own driveway and gave a sigh of relief. "No place like home," Doggett replied.

"No kidding," Mulder replied.

The three gentlemen got out of the car and stretched. Monica Reyes looked up and noticed the headlights through the living room window. Recognizing who it was, she ran out of the house and into Doggett's arms. Falling into the embrace, tears fell out of her eyes as she planted a joyous kiss on his mouth.

"Oh thank god," she exhaled out of relief, hugging Doggett again.

"Oh Lucy, I'm home," mocked Mulder. Doggett and Reyes turned around to face Mulder standing next to Gibson. "Where's Scully and Will?"

Reyes walked over to Mulder and placed a loving hand on his arm. "Dana went to visit her mother and took William with her. They should be coming home any minute now."

She looked over at Gibson and with both hands cupped the sides of his face. Reyes smiled and said to him, "And you… Boy! You got taller."

"And you… are glowing. Congratulations," remarked Gibson.

"Thank you so much. I still can't believe how much you've grown. Welcome home," she replied hugging Gibson. She stepped away from Gibson and was amazed to be seeing him eye to eye.

"Indeed. Let's go inside. I could use a hot shower and some rest after what happened trying to get here," added Doggett.

"Well, I'll be honest… as great as it is to be seeing all of you again. It's always a bit unsettling to be back here. I mean, I haven't exactly had the fondest memories here. Although, considering the alternatives of what we've been through…"

"…it's only going to get worse. What we saw, I bet was only a sample of what's yet to come," interrupted Mulder as they all filed into the household. "Where's the stone Gibson?"

"I'm going to put it with the rest of my stuff. Wherever it is I'll be staying…"

"I've set up an air mattress for you in the guest bedroom. You'll be sleeping with Will when he comes home," replied Reyes. A timer from within the kitchen went off. "That'll be the casserole. Once you guys set your stuff down you have to explain everything you saw to me over dinner."

* * *

FBI HEADQUARTERS

PARKING GARAGE

7:22 P.M.

Leyla Harrison stepped outside the elevator that led to her level where her car was parked. She walked over to her white Honda when she heard footsteps following behind her. She quickly turned her head to see what was stalking her. Nothing was there. The garage lot appeared deserted. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end. She nervously shuffled through her purse for her car keys when a man came up from behind her and covered her mouth. Her cries were stifled through the man's hands as she struggled and thrashed her body everywhere. Leyla dropped her belongings and back-kicked the man in the groin. The swift move on Harrison's part caused the man to lose his grip and let go. She turned around to face her predator to find a young boy curled up on the ground. Stepping closer to the boy on the ground, she immediately recognized the young man's face. "Will?" she asked softly.

The boy grabbed her arm tightly and his entire body shape-shifted into that of a man. He looked up at her with a smirk on his face. His face only stretched slightly as he stared at Harrison with his piercing blue eyes. Before Leyla could let out her frightening scream a beam of light captured the two and they disappeared from the parking garage.


	16. Settling

DOGGETT RESIDENCE

AUGUST 18TH, 2012 7:25 P.M.

Will woke up in the car with Scully in the driver's seat. They both had made it back to their haven. But as much as it felt like a sanctuary, Will felt alarmed. He couldn't articulate why, but goosebumps were forming all over his body and a weird humming sound seemed to reverberate within his ears. The humming turned into buzzing which seemed to be all that consumed his hearing until he heard, "Will?"

He turned to look at Scully whose eyebrow was raised out of concern. "Are you ok?"

"Um…" he began to say. The sound immediately went away. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure? You looked like you were having a panic attack."

"Yeah, I'm good," Will said as his heart rate began to slow back down. He still couldn't shake the feeling or sound of it, since it reminded him of a similar incident back at the farm. Both Will and Scully got out of the car and headed toward the house. Will paused in place and said, "Mulder, Doggett and… Gibson are here."

"Well, that makes sense since their car is parked in the driveway…"

"No. Gibson knows I'm here."

* * *

Gibson sat erect in his chair and was alert to Will and Scully's presence within his proximity. "Scully and Will are here."

"They are?" Mulder said getting up from the table to go greet them. No one from within the dining room could have seen their car lights pull up to the property. Scully entered the doorway and William followed right behind her. Everyone from within the dining room left and met up in the living room. Both Gibson and Will looked and stared at each other as the rest of the adults gathered around to greet Scully.

~_Hello~ said Gibson_

_~Hello~ replied Will_

_~How are things?~ _

_~Ok, all things considering. Um, how was your trip getting here?~_

_~Hell. Beams of light, we saw the aliens…~_

_~Sounds exactly what I saw before I left my home~_

The rest of the adults in the room turned to look at Will and Gibson interacting with each other, but soon realized that nothing was being said between the two. Both Will and Gibson just simply stared at each other.

_~What about your parents? Are they dead?~ Will continued_

_~When I was a little boy, I was taken away from my parents when there was an attempt on my life. Mulder and Scully did their best to save me, but I could never return home. Between secret governments kidnapping me and a close encounter with aliens I left for the desert. I came out of hiding, saved Mulder and then lived with a foster family up in Ohio ever since~_

_~I believe my foster parents are still alive. Everyone thinks they're dead. If they're dead, I want to know for sure. I want to personally eliminate these so-called aliens and be rid of them for good~_

_~Hey what's that?~ _Gibson looked down at the gift bag. ~_Happy Birthday?~_

_~Oh, no. My grandmother, who I've only just met today gave me an iPhone 5GS. She's very adamant on staying in touch with me. Want to go to the bedroom and check it out?~ _Will said proceeding to walk to his bedroom.

_~Sure, I've only heard about the cool appli…~_

"Ah, ah, ah! You can't do that to us! Us non-telepathic folk have no idea what's going on. Not fair," interrupted Mulder.

"I'm betting that you guys just had a reveling conversation, but from our point of view it was an eerie staring contest," commented Reyes.

"If you could give us the courtesy of at least letting us know what you're doing, instead of just silently looking at each other to communicate then leaving, I think that would give us some sort of peace of mind," replied Scully.

"My bad," apologized Gibson.

"Sorry," responded Will.

"You've got to admit that it's pretty cool that we can do that though, right? I mean it's nice for a change for someone like Will to hear my thoughts once in a while," admitted Gibson openly in a jovial manner. Will started to smile to himself over the new found benefit of his abilities that he shared with Gibson.

"We were just going to head to the bedroom to check out Will's new iPhone," explained Gibson. Will simply nodded looking at his parents.

"Ok, great. Thank you for explaining that one to us."

Gibson nodded apologetically as he and Will bowed out of the room to head to the bedroom.

_~Are they always that paranoid?~ Will asked_

_~Worse. But as an adult, you do kind of get paranoid when you don't know what's going. I mean, you lose all sense of control when you don't know anything~ replied Gibson. _Both Gibson and Will entered the bedroom silently and closed the door. A cool wash of relief and weight seemed to have been lifted off of Will's shoulders.

Perturbed by what he just felt he thought, _What was that?_ Realizing how Gibson didn't react to what he was saying, Will spoke out loud, "What was that?"

Will flopped onto his bed to look at Gibson who sat more gracefully onto his air mattress. "Oh, sorry about that," Gibson said as he reached for his Trinket Bag at the foot of his bed. He ruffled through his belongings when he pulled out a smooth metallic stone.

"What is that?" Will asked.

"This, my friend, is what our quest will be about," said Gibson seriously. After lifting up the stone like a Hamlet skull he continued more dramatically, "I like to call this the _Philosopher's Stone_!"

Will looked at Gibson incredulously, "Really? You're gonna go there?"

"No, I'm only kidding. It's not he Philosopher's Stone. I just wanted to see your reaction." Gibson handed the stone to William who looked the object over in his hand. The two of them smiled over the joke which lightened the mood.

"But in all seriousness, we have to find out more about this rock. It's entire function, what it's made of, if there's more out there just like it."

"I think we're going to have to bring in the rest of the adults for that."

"This rock is why we can't hear each other's thoughts right now."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But it only works within proximity. We'll have to test it out. Now that I've met you, we can see how long the radius is."

Silence passed as they both pondered about the stone before them. They both were forming theories in their head. Breaking the silence Gibson asked, "So… both Mulder and Doggett tell me that you can do so much more than hear people's thoughts."

"mmhmm," acknowledged Will.

"What exactly can you do?"

"Well, I can hear thoughts…telepathy. I can move stuff…" Will said as he tossed the stone up in the air a few inches. "…telekenesis. Um, supposedly I can heal really fast, though I haven't really tested that theory. And, the last ability that I know of…" Will trailed off his sentence and started staring down at his bed linen. "… I had a very bad experience with."

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"When the aliens burned my home, I came across this man named Liam. He had this dark, cold… feeling about him. He said he knew me, and before I passed out I heard his voice in my mind like we just did out there. He's been haunting my dreams ever since. Next thing I knew, I was in the hospital. While I was there, I woke up and went to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and saw Liam. But I was Liam! I immediately changed back into myself, and… it's frightened me to think about it ever since then."

"So… what you're saying is… you can shape-shift?"

"Yeah."

"Well, don't worry about that now. Tomorrow I'll help you out to the best of my abilities with yours. You can be my young Padawan and we can figure out the stone later, cool?"

"Yeah."

They both looked at each other, and without knowing what the other was thinking Will asked, "Wanna check out my…"

"…iPhone. Heck yeah."

"Cool."

* * *

"Mulder!" Scully whispered, "What are you doing?"

Mulder had his ear pressed against the boys' bedroom door. He looked back at Scully whispering back, "What? They have the stone. They don't know I'm out here."

"You're acting like you've just been kicked out of the cool people's table."

"Well, they are cool. I wondered on the car ride over here what they would be like together. You do realize that the two most fascinating people in the world are sitting just inside this bedroom."

"Really? Mulder, if there was something that they needed to tell us, I trust that William will know to seek our help."

Conceding to Scully's gesture to leave them alone, they both walked out to the living room where Doggett and Reyes sat on the couch. The television in the living room was turned on to the TCM channel and an old movie flick was playing on the screen. Doggett had fallen asleep at the end of the couch with Reyes by his side listening to the lulled hum of audio from the TV. She rested her head on his shoulder and slowly nodded off to sleep. Without saying a word, Mulder grabbed an extra blanket and both he and Scully cuddled up together on the couch to do the same. A few moments later, they too fell asleep watching the flick.

* * *

FBI ACADEMY

10:43 P.M.

Skinner was working late catching up on the paperwork he needed to make up from his previous absence. The workplace was seemingly silent and that was the way he preferred working. He placed the finished signed documents in a file drawer when he heard a chime come from his desktop. He looked up on his computer monitor and noticed a new email in his inbox. He looked at the Subject line reading: Read This-Important! He then looked at the Sender and saw that it came from: Harrison, Leyla. Clicking on the email it popped up on his screen and read:

_Agent Skinner,_

_I've got something that you need to see and know about. I just got some more intel on what might save us. We're being monitored as we speak, so I can't say anymore. Meet me at my office in three days. I'm on a hot lead. I think I know who's been using me._

_See you then._

_Agent Leyla Harrison_

Skinner sat there staring at the email wondering why she didn't simply just call him. He picked up his cell phone and dialed her cell phone number. No response. He tried calling her office number and was left with her voicemail message. Skinner felt that something was off about the email, especially since she wasn't answering her phone. He wasn't sure what else to do to find her. He looked at the time stamp in which the email was sent:

_10:36 P.M. - 8.18.2012_

The email was sent recently. He picked up the phone and called the FBI security.

"FBI Security, Jerry speaking."

"Jerry, this is Agent Walter Skinner."

"Walter, how you doin' man?"

"I'm alright. I was wondering if you could send me the surveillance footage for this evening for the parking garages this evening?"

"What time frame are you looking for because there are a lot of garage levels?"

"Three days worth; yesterday, today, and tomorrow's footage."

"Ok, well that's a lot of video. I'll send what I have via email of yesterday. Today's footage I won't be able to give you until sometime tomorrow, and tomorrow's footage the day after."

"That's great Jerry, just do what you can as soon as possible."

"I'll keep an eye out on the garage cams if you want me too?"

"That would be great, but do what you can, I know that's asking a lot."

"No problem, take care of yourself Walter."

"You too Jerry."

Skinner hung up his phone. Feeling like there was nothing else left to do for the evening he filed away the rest of his papers and headed home; still with the gut feeling that something was very wrong.


	17. Stage

AUGUST 21ST, 2012 10:28 A.M.

"Hey Monica, I just wanted to say thank you for hosting all of us," Scully said as she handed Reyes a washed dish for her to dry. Reyes stood beside Scully in front of the kitchen sink with a towel drying off the clean dishes that were coming her way.

"Oh Dana you know it's never a problem. I appreciate you paying for groceries," replied Reyes.

"It's the least I can do. I'm just glad that I had saved enough money for something like this."

"Yeah, I was wondering, how are you financially managing this?"

"Well, I've saved up quite a bit of money from working at the hospital up in Canada. With the benefit packages and the free health plan I have actually received incentives; you just got to know the right plan. Anyways, I knew that a moment like this would come where Mulder and I would have to pick up and leave to be somewhere for a while. I was able to save about $400 a month with the job I was working for. Mind you, I started doing that when I got my hospital position. Let's just say I have enough to sustain us for a while," said Scully handing Reyes the last dish and working on the silverware.

"Well, I enjoy having company at the house here; especially with people who I trust with my life. Dana, I just wanted to let you know that you, Mulder, Gibson, and Will are all welcome to stay as long as you want."

"Thank you, I appreciate that. Right now, I'm waiting to see what's next. It kind of feels like we're on the verge of something… which reminds me, the boys mentioned that they need more information on the stone. A full set of diagnostics needs to be run on the stone's material make-up. I would do it myself, but I would need access to a lab. Unless you know someone we can trust to analyze it?" responded Scully handing Reyes a bunch of forks and knives to dry.

"Hmm… Let me see what I can do for either option. But as far as gaining access to a lab, I would have to go to the Forensic's Lab at Headquarters and see what's available. You're more than welcome to come along. I can say that you are a scientific expert on… biology and that you're a guest clinician on the… samples for our case."

Scully handed Reyes the last handful of clean utensils and replied, "Well, you do whatever you feel is necessary. I just figured we should use the resources we've got at our disposal while we still have the chance." Scully dried her hands on a spare towel and continued, "Hey, I'm going to start on Will's laundry. Let me know when you want to head toward the lab and I'll go ahead and let the boys know."

"Alright, sounds like a plan," replied Reyes.

Scully walked into Will's room and grabbed the full hamper from within the closet. She noticed in the corner of the room a pair of Will's jeans lying over the back of a chair. Assuming they were dirty, she picked up the pants and threw them in the basket when a piece of paper fell out. After putting the jeans in the hamper, she picked up the folded parchment and opened it up. The letter contained what appeared to be a grocery list and other needed essentials written in a woman's handwriting. A couple of dried tear drops could be seen splattered on the ink. Looking all the way to the bottom of the paper Scully read, "_Thanks for doing this honey. Love you OXOX"_

Scully realized that it was a letter written by Will's adoptive mother, Mrs. Van de Kamp, and understood why Will kept it this entire time. Reading the list made Scully think about Mrs. Van de Kamp and she was overcome with mixed feelings. She was so overwhelmed with emotion, she didn't know whether to be jealous of the woman who raised her long lost son, or happy that she raised him so handsomely. She reread the paper over and over until Mulder walked into the bedroom.

"Hello Mama Bear," he said as he came up behind Scully wrapping his arms around her waist and giving her a kiss on the side of her cheek. "Reyes said I might find you in here. What's up?"

"Um, nothing," she said wiping whatever moisture was in her eye and setting the letter on top of the dresser, "just doing laundry. What's going on with you? What have you been doing lately?"

"Doggett and I have been watching the news of these 'Disturbing Wild Fires'. Apparently there are reports around the world of these wild fires saying, 'it's the highest recorded amount of incidences in human history'. But… I think we all know what's really happening."

"mmhmm," concurred Scully. Mulder gave her another quick kiss before departing for the bedroom door. He got to the bedroom door then immediately turned around as if he just remembered something.

"Now I remember what I came to ask you… Have you seen Gibson or Will?"

"Will has his phone, but Gibson mentioned to me that they would be outside taking a run around the block. I think he's testing one of Will's abilities."

"Right. Gotchya. Thanks!" thanked Mulder as he headed down the hallway and out the front door. He stepped outside the door when he saw Gibson standing at the edge of the driveway with a stopwatch in his hand. Mulder approached Gibson and said, "Hey, Gibson, whatchya doin'?"

"Well, Will believes that he has the ability to heal… so, instead of doing something drastic like slicing an arm off or having him fall from a tall building, I thought that he should run."

"Run?"

"Well, if you had the power to heal, that means that all organs, muscles and bones are working at their upmost capacity. I'm theorizing with what I've been told about Super Soldiers, that the Alien part of them is what keeps them healthy. Like the Alien part that's been encoded in the DNA or something tells all the organs, muscles and bones to replenish immediately and quickly if anything is damaged."

"So running?"

"It's safer. Besides, if my theory is correct, he can't lose weight either. This ability is the ultimate homeostasis. I told him to sprint around the block and call me when he lost his breath."

Mulder looked over Gibson's shoulder at the stopwatch in his hand.

"You stopped your stopwatch already though."

"I know. I stopped it a half hour ago. This kid is a machine," marveled Gibson, "And here he is."

Both Gibson and Mulder could hear a quick patting of feet hit the cement from around the corner of the Doggett house. When William ran around the corner and into view, Gibson shouted, "Hey! Will! That's good. You can stop now!"

Will ran up to both Gibson and Mulder and halted.

"Woah," responded Mulder.

"Hi Mulder," said Will breathlessly. Mulder thought it was a bit bizarre seeing a kid sprint for thirty minutes straight and still speak calmly as if casually walking up to someone. Not a single drop of sweat gathered on Will's shirt.

"Hey kiddo, how do you feel?" asked Mulder.

"I feel great."

"What does it feel like sprinting for thirty minutes straight without being out of breath?" inquired Gibson.

"Really? For that long? I think after the first ten minutes I lost track of time and just allowed my mind clear itself. Sprinting like that… I felt free, almost invincible. You know that adrenaline rush you'd normally get within the first ten seconds of running? Just imagine twice that amount of energy but sustained."

"Wow," said both Mulder and Gibson simultaneously.

"Hey, I'm outside. It's a beautiful day. Want to go for one last walk around the block?" suggested Mulder to both Will and Gibson.

"No thanks," replied Gibson, "I think I exhausted myself just by watching Will. Besides, I'm going to go in the backyard and set up our next bout of Power Lessons."

Turning to see Gibson head back to the house, Mulder looked at Will awaiting his response.

"Sure. I could walk forever."

Nothing was said between the two as they both headed down the road at a slow casual pace. Mulder didn't say anything to Will, but simply looked him up and down.

_~Well, he certainly looks like a mini-me. The color of his eyes are definitely Scully's though~_

Will started to feel uncomfortable with Mulder analyzing him so closely.

"So, when you were back at home, what did you and your other dad do for fun?" Mulder asked lightening the mood.

"Well, most of the time he and I would help each other out with the chores on the farm. But every once in a while we'd all play a board game together after dinner, or go out to look at the stars. I had my own telescope back at home with a constellations chart to match it. I suppose with all the personal star-gazing I've done I have all the constellation patterns committed to memory by now."

"So… you're interested in space?"

"Yeah, I want to be an astronaut some day."

"That's actually really cool." _~You might get your chance sooner, than later~_

"Yeah," said Will disappointedly. It was moments like these where he wished he could turn off the Mind-Reading filter. The comment reminded Will of his inevitable confrontation with these aliens which could possibly end his life. To be thinking of death this early in his life depressed him and left him speechless. Seeing Will's body language Mulder asked, "What's wrong? You seem deep in thought, almost sad."

"Nothing. It's not your fault. It's just something you said," said Will gesturing to his ear and head that he could read Mulder's thoughts.

"What did I say?"

"_You might get your chance sooner, than later._"

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean… Boy, I'm kind of sucking as a Dad right now."

"It's alright. I… uh… appreciate your honesty."

Mulder and Will continued walking down the road and turned at the corner of the road. Nothing was said though William could tell that Mulder was struggling to make things right with him.

_~Way to go Fox. Think of something better next time!... Board games, he likes board games… I don't really have much history with kids… Samantha was the last person I played a board game with… Samantha… What would she have done in a situation like this?~_

Mulder sighed as he looked over at Will and then looked down at the pavement. The thought of Samantha gave Will the impression that she was a very strong influence in his life.

"Who's Samantha? She was… your sister. Wasn't she?"

"Yeah… uh… I really don't want to talk about that right now. I want to get to know you. It's kind of unfair how you can read my thoughts but I can't yours," stated Mulder as the boys were coming up on the corner of the Doggett house. "Hey, I tell you what. Let's do some ol' fashioned father to son bonding and throw the pigskin around. Hmm, whaddya say?"

"Um, ok. Sports aren't really my thing, because I've never been really good at it. But," Seeing how close they were to the house Will thought of racing Mulder, "if I can beat you to the front door I get to ask one question and you have to answer truthfully."

"Ok. But if I win… I get free reign over the say on how short I still think you are."

Will began to smile at Mulder who reciprocated the gesture. The silence signified their agreement and they both took off running toward the house.

* * *

Mulder stood beside William outside in the front yard holding the football.

"So you stick your last three fingers in between the stitches like so," showed Mulder demonstrating with his hand on the football. "And when you release, you want the football to spiral like so…"

Mulder threw the football to Gibson who was walking out the front door onto the yard where the father and son stood. "I was wondering what was taking you guys so long to get back inside."

Gibson got closer to Mulder and tossed the ball underhandedly back to him. Mulder handed the football to Will. Will imitated how Mulder gripped the ball and prepared to throw it. Mulder stood back about fifteen feet away from William and anticipated a short troubled throw. William grinned to himself as he cocked his arm back and threw the ball. With the aid of Will's abilities, the football went sailing a hundred yards over Mulder's head and over the rooftops of the rest of the neighborhood.

"What do you think of my skills in sports now?" smirked William. Both Gibson and Mulder's jaws dropped over the sight and were completely speechless over the lost football.

Stunned, Mulder remarked, "I think you just made John Madden poop his pants. Gibson, let's bring out that stone. I wanna try that again, _without_ the aid of outside forces. We're going to go look for that football."

Mulder pointed a finger at Will as Gibson went back inside the house. Both Mulder and Will jogged down the street and looked up and down the neighborhood for the fallen ball. They both slowed down after about ninety yards or so when Will spoke, "You know, since I won the race earlier I get to ask my question."

"Dang… I had hoped you would have forgotten about that," said Mulder looking around the front lawns of the properties passing by them.

"Heh, no seriously. I… um… Knowing what we know about my abilities, and seeing how neither you nor Scully possess them either, I've only wondered about the absurdity of it all. I'm not entirely sure how to word this, but… how was I… conceived?"

"What? Really? You're going to ask that question of all questions to ask me. Hasn't someone ever told you how direct and profound your questions are?"

Will stood still in the middle of the road and looked up at Mulder seriously. Noticing how he was walking alone, Mulder turned around and saw Will frozen to the ground looking at him.

"Wow, ok," replied Mulder rubbing the sides of his face. He turned around to face William and walked slowly back. He sighed and with one hand dried the corners of his lips with his fingertips before speaking, "Has no one ever explained to you where babies come from?"

"Well, yeah. I wasn't born yesterday. I learned all that in 5th grade, along with the Drug Awareness program they had in school." Mulder gently cupped Will's shoulder and they continued walking down the street.

"Truth is… your mother and I never had sex which conceived you. The secret governments Gibson and I refer to, I think may have had a huge influence in your… conception. These underground governments once had an allegiance with these aliens. There was an exchange of Alien DNA for human DNA, occasionally live human beings were sacrificed. ~_Like my sister Samantha~_

"Dana Scully was one of the many unfortunate women who were abducted for her genetic profile. The abductions for many people involved surgical probing. For Scully, those procedures had taken all her ova which left her barren. By some miracle and investigation of my own, I was able to locate a single vial which contained the ova of Dana Scully. I took the vial and managed to narrowly escape the government lab. I had the ova all checked out and even after her doctors checked them out, she decided to try anyways and asked for my..." Mulder cleared his throat then gestured quotation marks with his two hands, "donation. After trying with in-vitro fertilization the procedure failed and I thought that was the end of that."

Mulder found a nice high curb on the side of the street. Both Mulder and William sat down and the explanation continued.

"Mind you, all of this happened about six or seven years into our working together on the X-Files. From the time she was abducted, there could have been so much manipulation done to those ova. During her abduction, a chip was implanted in her body that had once given her cancer. I believe it was that same chip that triggered her pregnancy with you. How that's possible, I don't know. I wish I can say that I was directly responsible for your being here, but that's as much as I know."

Silence filled the air. Mulder looked over at Will who was staring at the ground. Mulder could tell that there was more to William's question that he himself wasn't able to answer. He also felt that the truth, albeit insatiable, could have also been best delivered by someone who knew the entire story. Mulder's point of view on Scully's pregnancy was only the tip of the iceberg, and Will knew that.

"Why don't you ask me the real questions you wanna know about?"

"What?" asked Will raising his eyebrow.

"I feel like I didn't answer your question. So… bring it on."

Will sat there stewing in his thoughts. He huffed out of frustration and started to get upset. Out of distress and anger Will asked forcefully, "Was love… at all involved when I was created? Am I an accident? Was I only to be used as a tool in some mass design that even I am unaware of?"

"Is that what you feel you are?"

"I'm afraid," Will began, calming down, "that it's what my purpose is in life. Why? I just want my life to be so much less complicated. I want to have a normal life, with kid problems and complaints."

"Despite everything that's happened that's led to our paths in life to intertwine each other, I'm so proud of you; of who you are, what you are, and of what you will become. I speak freely of what I know because I hope that I can impart the knowledge that will one day help you make the better decision. And you know what? I trust you'll make the right choice. Were you created out of love? Heck yeah you were. Scully thought long and hard about you and regardless of how you came into fruition, time was spent making you the best person. Were you an accident? No. The only misfortune would be if you were born into this world without being loved. And you sir, are definitely loved."

The corners of Will's mouth moved up into a heartfelt grin. Tears fell down from Will's eyes as both he and Mulder hugged for the first time. Will buried his face into Mulder's shirt as a couple of drops fell. Breathing into Mulder's shirt, he couldn't help but smell him. Mulder smelled that of the current laundry detergent scent in combination with his shaving cream. Separating from the hug, Mulder rubbed Will's back asking with his look,

~_Are you ok?~_

Will nodded, and they both stood up from the curb and headed back to the house. Gibson, having taken his time walking up to Mulder and Will, tossed the football up and down in his hand saying, "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts… What part shall you play?"

Gibson used the football to point his comment at Will. Will saw the ball and quickly seized it out of Gibson's hand running toward the Doggett house. "I think I wanna play the kid learning how to play football."

Both Gibson and Mulder chased Will all the way down the street. Mulder, only slightly out of breath, managed to say, "Yeah, well, I wanna play the part of the father who teaches his kid about football; especially, about the part where he experiences the brutality of tackling."

Out of surprise, Mulder snatched Will up from around the waist and in a fun-loving way tackled him on the front lawn of the Doggett house. The tackle upon Will soon escalated to a rough-house tickle session. The result of Mulder's spontaneity caused Will to giggle so hard that the whole neighborhood could have caught the contagious laughter. Will laughed so hard he began to cry again. Part of him wanted Mulder to stop, but really, Will didn't want the feeling to end.


	18. Imitation

Liam headed down to the fuel room of the spaceship and grabbed a metallic brick the size of a tennis shoe. He grabbed the brick and immediately felt a surge of power swell from within his hands. He walked quickly to the lab and placed the metal block into a hallowed out container. Liam used his telekinesis power to close the container and it quickly lit up like a microwave. The radiation within the unit melted the block into a silver liquid. The liquid floated in midair and quickly turned bright red and then back to silver. An empty vial rose up from the bottom of the containment unit as if surfacing from a body of water. Liam stared as he saw the liquid funnel into the empty vial. Seeing that the process was complete he grabbed the vial and stuffed it inside his shirt pocket.

_~What are you doing?~ _called the alien beast from across the room.

Liam's back was turned to the creature and didn't know of its presence. The polarized liquid was causing Liam's abilities to falter. Liam could hear the raspy breathing from behind him and he turned around slowly. His eyes bulged slightly, and for the first time in his life he felt fear.

Liam tried escaping but it was no use. The alien was blocking his exit and was quicker. In the blink of an eye, the alien had run towards Liam and grabbed his throat. Liam was caught in the grasp of the creature and couldn't get away. The alien dragged Liam's body and threw it into an empty dark chamber. Mechanical arms from the walls and floor reached out for Liam and grabbed both his arms and legs. Wires birthed from the mechanical arms and implanted them inside his head. Breathing heavy, Liam shouted out loud and into the darkness, "I'M DOING WHAT YOU ASK ME!"

A man stepped forward, his face covered in darkness. He tilted his head out of curiosity, looking Liam up and down. He scoffed at Liam's struggle and audacity to live. In a voice very similar to that of Liam, he replied, "It's not enough, my brother. You're design was a fluke and you need to be terminated. Quite simply, energy was wasted creating you. There's no time for your bastardized creations or the plans you have in store. They all must be aborted, immediately; starting with you."

"NO! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" screamed Liam.

Bolts of orange lightening surged from the walls and pulsated through Liam's restraints. Screams could be heard as Liam's skeletal structure could be seen illuminated through his skin. His eyes and the inside of his mouth glowed from the internal light and shock of each surge. The mechanical arms released their stronghold and Liam's body collapsed to the floor. A vibration could be felt all around him as a light-blue beam of light enveloped his entire body and cast him down to Earth.

Liam's body trembled as he tried to stand up. The clouds were dark and gray in the sky and the wind was picking up. He stood up in the middle of an abandoned baseball field. A rain storm just passed leaving puddles where old slide marks and bases use to be. Liam attempted to walk forward when a sudden pain in his chest overwhelmed his will to keep walking. The pain crippled him as he fell to his knees next to a pool of water. He clutched his chest as he leaned forward, struggling to breathe. He placed his hand on the ground to steady himself when he caught his reflection in the standing water.

The pain he was feeling was the pain of his rapid aging. He saw his own disheveled brown hair lighten with streaks of grey. The corners of his eyes had folded into a few wrinkles and lines on his face became more noticeable. The pain in his chest stopped and so did the aging. He stood up again and felt the inside of his shirt for the vial. He pulled it out of his shirt pocket to evaluate any damage. Everything was still intact. Time was running short for Liam and he knew it. And on that thought he took off running.

* * *

DOGGETT RESIDENCE

AUGUST 24TH, 2012 3:12 P.M.

_~C'mon Will~_

Will was staring up in the skylight of their bedroom and looked down at Gibson. He felt a familiar tremor that reminded him of Liam. Gibson stood by the door as Will put on the last article of adult clothing. The clothes hung on his body like an awkward clown. Will looked at Gibson then down at the ground; he felt nervous, almost anxious.

_~You think this feeling tells you when Liam is near~_

Without looking up at Gibson, Will nodded and shuffled through the bedroom door to the rest of the house. The clothes were so loose that he had to pick up the excess clothing surrounding his body in order to walk. Gibson gently grabbed Will's shoulder and brought him close for a brotherly hug to comfort him.

_~Man, I completely understand. I was in your shoes before. And as much as I would like to say that it's ok, and that it's all going to be alright. I can't really guarantee that. But I'll tell you one thing, you certainly have an army of people on your side. Me for one. Then you have Mulder, Scully, Doggett, Reyes…~_

_~Mr. Skinner and Ms. Harrison… I know~ replied Will._

The two boys walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

_~Ok, let's work on your shape-shifting ability~_

William gave a huge frustrated sigh. _~Oh man, I really don't want to work on that right now~_

_~Well, since you have the ability to do it, you should at least try in a safe learning environment~_

_~I guess you're right~ _

Will heaved another anxious sigh before attempting to get comfortable on the couch. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to relax. Gibson sat on the coffee table across from Will. William opened his eyes to hear Gibson say out loud, "So what exactly do you remember from your last morphing experience?"

"I just… remember waking up from a violent angry dream. My clothes were tighter than usual and when I looked in the mirror of the bathroom I wasn't myself. I guess I willed myself to return to normal."

Gibson looked down on the floor while listening to William's explanation and then looked back at Will.

"Well, that's a good start," Gibson said inhaling before continuing his thought, "but, what I'm about to ask you to do can be a bit much. However, knowing what you've been through, I think you can handle it, can you?"

"Yeah, I can do it," replied Will.

"And I'll be here the entire time to help you. Ok? Are you ready?"

"mmhmm."

"Alright. In your mind, I want you remember and slowly recreate exactly what happened, starting with the dream. So go ahead and lie down on the couch and close your eyes. I'll tell you when to open your eyes."

William repositioned himself on the couch and reflected. He reached out for Gibson's hand. Gibson appropriately and compassionately held on without hesitation. Will closed his eyes and tried to remember the horrible nightmares he used to have.

Blood. Images of decapitation and fire flooded his mind. He could hear the echoes of screams and the sounds of children yelling for help. He felt fear consume his entire body, so much so that his entire body shivered and a weird tingling shot up through his spine.

"Will."

He felt his entire body shift without moving. He felt his arms and legs stretch and his rate of breathing increase. Images of his home in Wyoming cropped up into his mind. He saw images of his house on fire and Liam standing in front of it, laughing maniacally. He recalled disliking the strange odor of burned wood and chemicals. The memory caused Will to start hyperventilating. He could see the piercing eyes of Liam which reflected back into his own.

"WILL!"

Will opened his eyes to discover that his body was not his own. His heart pounding in his chest. He had transformed into Liam. With tears in his eyes, Will looked at Gibson for support who reflected back slightly panicked and frightened. Gibson swallowed up his courage and yelled, "You're ok! Think back to yourself. Think… think…" Gibson hesitated and didn't know exactly what to say, except the first thing that popped into his head, "short. You are a short person. You are… a very intelligent boy. You are loved by a lot of people!"

William tried to stifle his breathing and forced himself to shiver back to his original body. He closed his eyes and fought really hard to come up with a mental projection of himself. He thought of all the quiet moments looking at the stars. He searched for the feelings that gave him complacency and by doing so he quickly returned to his original form. He felt his entire body shiver and his body shrink back into his loose clothes. Will opened his tear-filled eyes and looked at Gibson. Gibson sat beside William and gave him a heart-felt hug. Will sobbed into Gibson's shirt and thought, _~Please! Please, don't ask me to do that again~_

"Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to change into… was that Liam?"

William sniffled then said, "Uh huh. Yeah."

"Hey buddy, you did it. And you know what? You just faced your fear. You are the bravest person I know. You had to witness some pretty horrific things, and then had to relive them. That took guts. And you've got 'em Will."

Will smiled and wiped the tears from his eyes. He looked at Gibson and said, "Hey, I want to thank you for doing this with me. I never had any brothers or sisters and well,… you're the closest thing that I have to a brother whose gone through the same things I have. Thank you for being there for me."

"Hey, it's not a problem." Both Gibson and Will fell into another brotherly embrace.

"How about this," Gibson started to suggest as he and Will separated from the hug, "how about we stop doing this for now and have lunch, hmm?"

"No," replied Will.

"No?"

"I want to master this. If Liam is close by, I want to be ready. As long as you've got my back, I think I'll be ok."

"Alright, well… if you insist."

"I insist."

"Oh, kaaay."

William leaned completely back against the couch and proceeded to close his eyes and relax again.

"How about you try someone else… say, Mulder."

"Mulder?" Will opened one eye and looked at Gibson.

"Yeah, why don't you give that a try?"

"Ok," said Will as he closed his eye again. He inhaled through his nose slowly and exhaled through his mouth with a slight tremble. He was still feeling the residue of being recently upset.

"Perhaps, they're memories of people."

"Maybe. I'll start with that."

Will thought of all the interactions he had with Mulder. He remembered when they first met and Will recognizing his own facial features in him. Will could hear Mulder's voice in his head.

…_Fox? Really?…That's actually pretty cool…_

…_If only you were there to explain that to the rest of my colleagues…Just call me Mulder…_

He fast-forwarded in his head to when he and Mulder bonded in the kitchen. They were cutting pieces of pie and dishing each slice onto plates for everyone. Will had the can of whip cream and sprayed a little too much which accidentally got a bit on Mulder's shirt. Mulder in return grabbed a goop of whip cream already sitting on a piece of pie and smeared it all over Will's face.

Will was feeling light-hearted and happy. Lying there on the couch, he grinned to himself. Gibson sat there beside him reading his thoughts, enjoying the flashbacks as well.

Will thought of the time he threw the football about a hundred yards. He remembered walking down the street with Mulder to retrieve the ball; talking and hugging. He could still recall Mulder's smell from that hug: Laundry Detergent and Shaving Cream. He then immediately thought of the tickle fight on the ground in the front yard and laughing so hard that he cried. William felt pure joy.

Will shivered in place and his spine tingled. His body grew into the loose clothing and he felt warm and happy all over.

"Hey, have you guys seen my pants… woah," replied Mulder entering the living room, not realizing what he just stumbled into.

William opened his eyes to find Mulder standing there mesmerized and shocked. Both Will and Gibson stood up in place and felt like they just got caught red-handed stealing cookies from the cookie jar.

_~Well, I guess that explains where my pants went~ Mulder thought._

Mulder approached Will looking him up and down at eye to eye level. Mulder looked at Will as if he was looking at himself in the mirror. William stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do or how to react. Mulder looked at William's hair and jokingly said, "Is that what my hair really looks like? Why didn't anyone mention that my hairline was receding?"

Mulder smiled which broke the awkward tension in the room. Mulder turned around and headed back toward the kitchen. William managed to say out loud in Mulder's voice, "I take it that you approve?"

Mulder turned around looking back at the two boys winking, "Hey, imitation is the best form of flattery."


	19. Odd

FBI ACADEMY

AUGUST 25TH 2012 3:34 P.M.

Skinner walked down the hallway that led to his office. Between watching the surveillance videos, meetings and teaching classes, he hadn't had much time to peruse through three days worth of footage. He approached his office door and opened it. He placed his jacket on the hanger in the corner of his office and approached his desk as if to sit down. Before sitting down he noticed a vial filled with metallic liquid. Underneath the vial contained a note written in a woman's handwriting. He unfolded the parchment and read the contents:

_Skinner,_

_My apologies for all the cloak and dagger stuff and for not meeting up with you like I said I would in a previous email, but this is urgent. I was handed this earlier today from a comrade I met during my undergrad year of college. I'm trying to leave his name out because I trust him and his sources. He informed me that this vial's contents are meant for William. He said that we would know why once the contents were within proximity. He also mentioned that it is to cure his ailments and that it should leave him with a normal life._

_Feel free to check the viability of this product or just take me at my word. Time is wasting, I've got to go attend business before people around work start to notice._

_Harrison_

"What? …_because I trust him and his sources… just take me at my word..._" Skinner said out loud to himself. "This doesn't sound like Harrison at all."

He went ahead and continued checking out the second day's worth of footage. He noticed Leyla enter FBI Headquarters parking garage. On the bottom right corner of the video read:

8/18/12 7:23 A.M.

He saw Leyla park her car, get out and enter the building at 7:26 A.M. He fast-forwarded through the footage, pausing every time a person exited the FBI building and entered the parking garage. Finally at about 7:20 P.M. Skinner saw Leyla exit the FBI building and enter the parking garage to leave. He followed the camera's angle which was following Leyla. All of a sudden the camera switched to a different angle that should have shown Leyla coming out on the other side. She didn't appear on the other side and the footage still showed Leyla's car parked in the garage. Something was off and Skinner played on his instincts. He picked up his cell phone and texted Mulder, Doggett, Reyes and Scully. In the message he typed:

SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH HARRISON. I PICKED UP A STRANGE VIAL INTENDED FOR WILLIAM. IT WAS LEFT BY HARRISON WITH CRYPTIC NOTE. I'M HEADING OVER TO HER OFFICE NOW TO INVESTIGATE.

After clicking SEND on his cell phone, he placed it back into his pocket and walked over to the coat rack to put his suit jacket back on. He turned around to look on his desk and saw the vial sitting there, the liquid inside the container glimmered in the light of the desk lamp. He walked back over to his desk and placed the vial and letter inside the top left desk drawer. He would have to analyze it later, but for now he was heading over to FBI Headquarters.

* * *

FBI FORENSICS LAB

AUGUST 25TH 2012 3:56 P.M.

"Are you sure you're ok Monica?" asked Gibson. Reyes was waddling slowly down the hall with Gibson from the bathroom towards the lab room.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I've just been feeling tired, achy and heavy all day. I suppose that's a major side effect for being really huge and pregnant," replied Monica as she rubbed her lower backside. They continued walking down the hall in silence and felt Gibson looking at her from the corner of her eye. She looked at Gibson who was giving her a skeptical look. "I don't have to have mind reading abilities to know what you're thinking. I'm not in labor, ok. Besides, I'm not due for another four weeks."

Gibson opened the door to the lab allowing Reyes to enter first. Scully was sitting on the stool reading the data the computer was spitting out of the stone's composition. Earlier in the day, Scully had broken off a small chip from the stone and ground it up into a fine powder. From there she mixed it with a saline solution to liquefy the powdered material for the computer to analyze the material. Scully looked up over the rim of her glasses to see Reyes and Gibson enter the lab to her workstation.

"What do you have?" asked Reyes as she sighed when she sat down on a stool juxtaposing Scully's. Scully looked back at the computer screen scrolling the graphed charts of spiked colors indicating particular elements.

"It's interesting. The stone contains properties of Iron, Sodium, Magnesium and Carbon. See that spike there," said Scully as she pointed to the screen to both Gibson and Reyes, "There's a higher concentration of Iron than there are the rest of the elements mentioned."

Scully looked at the stone and the room went quite. Gibson looked at Scully staring at the stone, she could almost see the gears grinding away in her brain. "What are you thinking Scully?" asked Gibson.

"Gibson where did you find this stone?" asked Scully looking back up at Gibson.

"There was a small river close to home in Middlefield. Why?" replied Gibson.

"This must be a unique kind of alloy because I don't know of any iron that when contacted with water doesn't rust."

The three individuals were perplexed by the stone's analyzed conclusion. All of sudden, both Scully's and Reyes's phone's beeped and chimed. Scully reached for her cell and flipped open her phone.

"It's Skinner. _Something is wrong with Harrison. I picked up a strange vial intended for William. It was left by Harrison with cryptic note. I'm heading over to her office now to investigate_," said Scully reading her text out loud. Scully continued, "We've got to head over there. Leyla's in trouble and Skinner needs our help."

"For once Scully, you read my mind," said Gibson. Scully quickly downloaded the information and data onto her USB flash drive while Gibson grabbed for his bag to put the stone back inside it. After saving the information Scully went ahead and deleted the research from the computer's hard drive and disposed the test material. Gibson helped clean up and organize the lab station quickly and they both headed out the door. Reyes stood up and froze in place.

"Guys, we need to call John," murmured Reyes carrying the underside of her belly.

"I'm sure if you and I both got Skinner's text, then so did Mulder and John," replied Scully.

Realizing that Reyes hadn't caught up with them, both Scully and Gibson paused at the door and turned to look back at her.

"No, it's not that," said Reyes looking frightened and shocked as she stared at the ground before her, "I need to go to a hospital. My water just broke."

* * *

FBI HEADQUARTERS

4:11 P.M.

Doggett's phone buzzed in his pocket while he sat at his desk typing away on his laptop. He managed to solve an X-File case by himself in five days without any assistance. Pleased at his own prowess he was eager to file the report by five o'clock and be done with another good day of working on the X-Files. He typed for another three minutes completing his thought before pausing for a moment to sip his lukewarm cup of coffee. He pulled out his cell phone from his pocket to see the reason for his phone buzzing earlier and read Skinner's message.

Realizing how he was closer to Leyla's office than Skinner was, he decided to stop what he was doing for the meantime and have a talk with Harrison himself before Skinner arrived. He stood up and placed his cell phone inside his pocket. Just when he was headed out the door, his cell phone started buzzing continuously, signaling that he was being hailed by an incoming caller. He pulled the cell phone back out of his pocket and recognized the ID of the caller calling his phone.

"Hey honey, what's going on?" answered Doggett casually.

"John, my water broke," replied Reyes calmly.

"What? When? Where are you?" asked Doggett in a concerned voice.

"I'm walking down the hallway right now to get to the car. I was in a Forensic Lab when it happened. Don't worry, Scully and Gibson are with me. They're going to take me to the George Washington Hospital. Meet us there ok?"

"Ok. I'll be there in a jiffy. Just hold on tight and I'll be there before you know it."

"John."

"Yeah."

"I love you."

"I love you too. Get there safely for me will ya?"

"We will."

Doggett hung up the phone and was immediately flooded with adrenaline. He took off sprinting to the parking garage and bolted toward his car. With the sudden turn of events, Doggett quickly forgot about his intended rendezvous with Harrison and how in just a few moments Skinner was going to confront Leyla about her odd behavior.


	20. Apprehend

DOGGETT RESIDENCE

AUGUST 25TH, 2012 4:13 P.M.

"You think Harrison and Skinner are in trouble," said Will.

"Yep," answered Mulder as both he and Will left the Doggett house in haste.

"That's why we're heading out there now," said Will as he got into the rental car.

"Yep," said Mulder pulling the car keys out of his pocket. He opened the driver's side door to the Honda Civic and sat down. He shoved the key into the ignition and started the car.

"Do you think Leyla's in trouble too?" asked Will.

"I'm not entirely sure Will. But I imagine that she's not who she is anymore," replied Mulder as they pulled out of the driveway and exited the neighborhood.

"You think she's been abducted and turned into an alien," Will paused to take a breath, "A… Super Soldier."

Mulder pulled onto a highway and started heading deep into the city. "You said it kid, not me. But yes."

"I don't think you're crazy," admitted Will confidently. "I'm ready."

"Ready for what?" asked Mulder.

"For whatever comes our way. You don't think I've been working on my abilities because it's fun, do you?"

"Well, no. It's just…"

"…you still don't think I'm ready."

"Well…"

"…that there's more to this."

"That…"

"…I still don't know about."

Mulder paused for a moment and looked at Will with an annoyed look.

"I know, I know… I'll stop cutting you off in your thought."

Silence filled the car while Mulder made it into the city limits. He drove as fast as he could to get to the FBI building.

"In all seriousness, this could be something dangerous. If things start to get ugly I want you to do whatever it is and protect yourself. Don't be the hero and try to save me. Ok? Lord knows, how many times I've cheated death," said Mulder as he turned the corner onto Constitution Avenue. Mulder looked over at Will in the passenger seat looking for acknowledgement. Will looked into Mulder's eyes and silently nodded. "Ok," responded Mulder.

It was in Will's silence that caused Mulder to look at Will one more time. He was instantly reminded of Scully the way Will pursed he lips. He reflected back to the time he woke up in the hospital coming back from death. As odd as the circumstance was at the time, he was happy to be waking up to a distressed and very pregnant Dana Scully. When she looked up at him, he remembered seeing the anguish squeezing out of every tear drop and knew right then how much he loved her. It was in that moment Mulder was going to do everything in his power to protect her and her child.

All Will could think about was Mulder and Scully. He missed the parents that took care of him and felt truly blessed on how he was able to grow up in such a safe and loving environment. Now that they're presumed dead, they felt like they were colored shadows in a distant memory. In the time that was spent with his birth parents he began liking them, even loving them. Knowing them was like putting together the missing puzzle pieces in his life, and made the overall picture make more sense. And as much as he respected both Mulder and Scully as his birth parents, he needed closure to his first parents. As long as Will had these abilities he was going to do his damndest to protect the ones he's got.

Mulder pulled into the parking garage and opened the door. Will got out of the car as well, only he didn't look like Will anymore, he had transfigured into Doggett. Mulder turned around to look at Will at his eye level, impressed with his choice of person.

"Nice. Though, I'm still curious as to how you were able to morph into size-fitting clothes as well," inquired Mulder.

"Well," replied Will in Doggett's gruff voice, "honestly, let's just say that it's what I've been working on all day yesterday. It's interesting. It's like I'm literally projecting and changing the molecules around me to my desired image. Unfortunately I can't change into animals."

"Yeah, because that would be too weird," responded Mulder sarcastically. Just then Mulder's cell phone beeped in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw who it was. "It's Scully," stated Mulder. He read the text:

REYES IS IN LABOR. DOGGETT, GIBSON AND I ARE AT THE GW HOSPITAL WITH HER. I'M ASSUMING YOU AND WILL GOING TO MEET HARRISON WITH SKINNER. BE CAREFUL.

"Good thing you decided to be Doggett, because he's at the hospital now, and I need clearance to get into this building."

Mulder continued walking and soon realized that Will wasn't catching up. He turned around and looked at a frozen Doggett-looking Will standing in place. His face appeared busy with concern and alerted to something draconian.

"What's wrong?" asked Mulder.

"It's Liam. I can feel him," replied Will, "You don't feel or hear that buzzing?"

Mulder shook his head, "No."

"We need to go. Something's wrong," Will said as he started sprinting.

Will started running up the stairways, skipping steps where he could and into the FBI building. Mulder followed after him, trying to catch up. Mulder, who at this point was out of breath asked, "Who's in trouble? Skinner or Harrison?"

"Both."

* * *

Mulder knocked on the door that read Agent Leyla Harrison. Both Mulder and Will, who still took the image of Doggett, could hear heavy scraping and muffling from within her office. The windows and doors were covered by closed blinds. Will felt an odd yet familiar sensation pulsating from within the room.

"Who is it?" called Harrison from inside her office. Mulder tried opening the door, which was locked.

"Leyla, it's Mulder and… Doggett. Is Skinner in there with you?"

"Yeah, can we talk?" chimed in Will in Doggett's husky voice.

"Um… yeah, give me a second I'm doing a bit of rearranging in here," responded Harrison. Within a few seconds she unlocked her office door and opened. "Sorry about that," she continued, "a chair was blocking the doorway. Come on in."

The two gentlemen entered her office. Will couldn't help but look suspiciously around her office. He felt Liam close by but couldn't tell where. There was a back window that overlooked the city from a couple of stories and a side window that was barely closed by blinds; Will could see the rest of the office cubicles from within Agent Harrison's office. All of which were empty.

"So… Skinner tells me that you placed a vial in his office. What exactly is it and why didn't you just hand it to him personally?" inquired Mulder.

"Oh, you know me, I've been busy," piped Agent Harrison and she stood by her desk. Her right arm was tucked behind her back.

_~She's lying~_

Will heard the voice in his head and looked wildly around the office. He walked closer to the window with the partial opening of the blinds and peered through. He didn't see anybody. Will turned around and noticed a darkened shadow from behind Harrison's desk. William still couldn't shake the peculiar feeling that something was off about her.

_Is she human? _Will thought.

_~Bingo~ _ answered a familiar voice.

"Ms. Leyla, where's Skinner?" asked Will in a deep voice.

"What?" asked Harrison nonchalantly. Will inhaled as he shifted back into his original body. "Well, I can see that you've been busy," continued Harrison. She appeared to purposefully hide her right hand.

"Ms. Leyla, you're not yourself. What's happened…" In that exact moment he saw a flash of images while reading Leyla's mind. He saw Skinner enter her office and question her. Through her eyes he saw her hand karate chop a gash into Skinner's head which knocked him out. The feeling that William was having outside her office was coming from her. The feeling was alien. She was no longer human.

A second or two later Mulder saw Skinner's head poke out on the opposite side of the desk and shouted out loud, "Walter!"

Mulder rushed behind the desk to get at Skinner's body, but before he could reach Skinner, Leyla grabbed Mulder by the throat and lifted him up. All of sudden, she released her death grip on Mulder who crumpled to the ground like a pile of sticks. Will had forced her hand to let go. She turned to look at William, who with a gesture of his hand lifted her up off the ground using the energy emitting from within.

"She's not human," claimed William.

"Yeah… I gathered that," wheezed Mulder between intermitted coughing breaths. With Harrison floating in the air, William had no idea what to do with her.

_~Throw her out the window~_

"NO! I can't!" shouted Will. William was conflicted on what to do. Mulder sat there confused as to what was going on.

_~You have the power to do it, so just do it! She's served her purpose~_

"What? No. I can't! I won't!" continued William out loud. He was internally struggling. He couldn't kill her. He's never killed a person before in his life. He couldn't kill the person who was the first to believe in him in his hour of need. She trusted a perfect stranger; a poor kid who was lost and destitute.

_~I can't let her go either. She'll kill me and Mulder the first chance she gets!~ exclaimed William._

_~Let her go and I'll take care of the rest~_

Meanwhile, William was staring into Harrison's eyes. They were looking back at him nervously and frightened.

_I can control her. One false move and I'll stop her and try to get to the bottom of all this. I'm just going to set her do…_

As he was setting Harrison down to the ground, another force sent Harrison flying backwards crashing through and outside the back window. The shards of glass flew everywhere and outside the window. William ran forward to look outside and down to the streets below. Her body lay distorted like a raggedy doll, dead. Numb with disbelief, William was in shock over the death of Harrison.

_I didn't just kill her, did I? No. I couldn't have. No, I didn't._

Temporarily forgetting about what happened to Leyla, Will turned around and knelt down beside Skinner who was badly injured. Mulder crawled over to Skinner and felt for a pulse in the wrist of the arm closer to him.

"He's alive, but barely," whispered Mulder in a hoarse voice.

Will looked at Mulder's throat which was reddened with the residue finger marks of recently being almost choked to death. Without saying a word, William placed a hand on Skinner's cool face. He could sense that Skinner was unconscious and barely alive. Will instinctively placed both hands on Skinner's chest and closed his eyes. In his mind he meditated and connected with Skinner's body; felt his wounds and his pains become his wounds and pains. He felt Skinner's body struggle to breathe as his chest rose slowly up and down. Will's breathing became synchronized with that of Skinner's and as Will helped him breathe the wounds on Skinner's body started to heal rapidly. Once the cut was healed on his head, his skin turned back into a healthy warm fleshy color. Almost instantaneously, Skinner opened his eyes and took a breath as if for the first time in his life.

Will released his touch from Skinner's chest and passed out on the floor beside him. At first, Mulder couldn't believe what he just saw, but then he thought about Jeremiah Smith's healing abilities and it made all the sense in the world.

"Will!" shouted Mulder as he got up from his position and went to hold William in his arms.

"Mulder, what's going on? Where am I?" asked a dazed and confused Skinner who was still lying on the floor.

"Walter, how are you feeling?"

"Exhausted. Conscious. Alive, I think?"

"Can you get up?"

"Barely, I think. I feel woozy, like I just fell asleep in the hot sun," explained Skinner as he fluctuated in and out of consciousness.

"Don't bother…" said another steely voice from the office doorway. An older man walked into the office and approached Mulder holding Will's body. The mysterious man appeared to be ten years older than Mulder and oblivious to the oddity of the destructed office. "…I'll be taking William now, if you don't mind, pops."

"_Pops?_ Who are you calling _pops? _You look old enough to receive Senior Citizen's discounts," retorted Mulder.

"So I take it that's a 'no.' Shucks, I was really hoping it didn't come down to this."

"You must be Liam…"

In one swift motion, the older man with steely blue eyes used his energy to force-push William out of Mulder's arms and into his sending Mulder backwards onto the ground. A buzzing filled the room momentarily, and to Mulder felt like slow motion. Mulder went to stand and grab hold of William in Liam's arms. But before he was able to reach Will, a blinding brilliantly blue light absorbed both Liam and William and beamed them away to an unknown destination. And in a blink of an eye, they were gone. Right before Mulder's very own eyes, he frustratingly witnessed another abduction of a loved one.


	21. The Explanation

William woke up in a familiar bed. The sun was shining through the window to his bedroom illuminating the familiar posters he had on the walls. The telescope anchored itself by the window where it gleamed in the sunlight. William bolted upright in his bed and pinched himself. Bewildered and fuzzy, he said out loud to himself, "What a hell of a dream."

With his legs dangling over on the side of his bed he stood up and felt the wood on the floor. The touch to his feet felt right. He looked over to the body length mirror that hung on the back of his door. He looked back at his reflection and was comforted to see himself, like nothing changed. He noticed how disheveled his hair was and tried to comb it back nicely using his fingers. He still wore the same flannel pants and comfy t-shirt he normally wore to bed. He was home.

Rejoicing that it was all a dream, Will happily descended down the stairs to the scent of breakfast permeating through the air.

_If I smell breakfast, then Mom's cooking. MOM'S COOKING! MOM AND DAD!_

Will ran to the kitchen to discover Mrs. Van de Kamp by the stove scrambling eggs and Mr. Van de Kamp sitting at the table reading the town's newspaper.

"Mom! Dad!" Will shouted.

The two adults turned to look up at a beaming William smiling back at them. William ran to his mother and hugged her. Mrs. Van de Kamp grunted slightly at the collision, "Umph. Oh honey, good morning to you too!"

William ran over to his father and hugged him. Everything was right; the way his father's clothes felt against his skin right down to his deodorant-wooded scent. The moment was so endearing that it caused Will to cry. Will never wanted to forget this feeling; the feeling of safety and complete relaxation, of happiness.

"Hey, hey, now. Are you crying, son?" Mr. Van de Kamp asked. Will nodded as he refused to relinquish from his hug. Will's father embraced his son's hug and conceded by squeezing just a little bit tighter. Will held on for what seemed like ten minutes until he couldn't breathe. He felt like if he had let go he would lose them forever. The lump in his throat was rising up to the top and he broke down into complete joyous sobs.

"Honey, what's the matter? Why are you like this?" asked his mother. She had stopped what she was doing on the stove and walked over to Will to hold his face in her hands. The smoothness and warmth of her touch caused Will to let go of his father and clutch the hands that were enveloped around his face. She looked into his reddened eyes and in between sobs Will replied, "I had a horrible dream; that you both were gone. I had missed you both, I can't even begin to describe what it was like or what I've seen."

"Well it's over now. You're awake, so come sit down and relax, and have some breakfast, huh?" suggested his mother. Will nodded consenting to the wonderful thought while Mrs. Van de Kamp kissed him on the forehead. Will sat down at the table which was already set and ready for breakfast.

"So… let's talk about that Space Camp," said Mr. Van de Kamp.

"Sure," sighed Will as he tried to compose himself by breathing normally, "what do you want to know?"

"Well, how'd it go?" he asked.

"What do you mean, Dad?" asked Will, confused by his statement.

"Well, you just came home yesterday from all the traveling. You've been gone for quite sometime and I'm assuming you guys did something there. You even brought a friend back from camp."

_A friend?_

Just then Mrs. Van de Kamp started dishing out the eggs and bacon onto four plates. She sat down and threw a little salt on her eggs before eating. Will looked around the table, confused by who he could have invited back home. All of a sudden, Liam walked into the kitchen.

"Mrs. Van de Kamp, this looks absolutely divine," remarked Liam.

Right when Liam sat down, William jerked and jumped out of his seat out of pure shock and fright. Will's eyes bulged from their sockets.

"YOU!" shouted Will as he backed himself against a wall to steady himself.

"William Van de Kamp, don't be rude. Sit back down! You about gave me a heart attack. C'mon, now. You guys know each other from camp," said Mr. Van de Kamp.

"I… I… can't do this!" stammered Will as he stumbled to escape out the front door of his house.

Liam took a couple bites of the bacon and eggs before wiping his mouth with the napkin on the table and saying, "Don't worry, I'll go talk to him. Mrs. Van de Kamp, lovely breakfast, as always." Liam smiled to the two adults before getting up to find Will outside.

* * *

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" shouted Will as he sprinted away from Liam.

William was running through the fields adjacent to the pathway that led to the main street into town when Liam stopped and shouted, "You don't remember how you got here, do you?"

William stopped running and turned around to face Liam. Will felt that it was time to stop running and use the abilities he practiced so much for. He raised his hands like he had rehearsed so many times before and attempted to choke Liam to death. Nothing happened. William stared at his hands in disbelief.

"It doesn't work here!" stated Liam.

"Why?" questioned Will.

"Come closer and I'll explain everything."

William hesitated as he slowly got closer to Liam.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. And there's no way you can kill me here, so let's just calm ourselves down here and have a seat." Liam gestured to the spot next to him on the top of the hill overlooking the Van de Kamp farm. William got closer, but refused to sit down. "Or, not," replied Liam.

"Go on then. Explain yourself," said William standing with his arms crossed.

"Suit yourself then," Liam sighed looking back at the surrounding property then looked back up at William, "You really have no idea who I am, do you?"

"No," replied William coldly.

"I am you…William."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I am… William. 'Liam' as in, w-i-l-_L-I-A-M_. Well, a derivative of you. I'm a Molecular-Nanite-clone."

"Molecular? Aren't nanites just small machines the size of a nanometer?"

"Think smaller."

William let down his guard and sat down on the ground in front of Liam as he pondered the thought. Speechless and confused, Will managed to splutter out, "How?... What?"

Liam bit his lip as he searched for a place to start. "I suppose it's only fair to start at the beginning…" Liam inhaled deeply and began.

"The truth is… we're all alien. I don't even know what planet we're from, but it isn't Earth. A war broke out a long time ago and a schism caused a group of aliens to flee to Earth. About a millennia later, with primitive technology and limited resources, the race of beings on Earth retrogressed severely and became primitive themselves; forgetting who or what they were. About that time, the original race of Aliens were dying due to an over-exposure of their own technology. These Aliens could no longer reproduce via meiosis. Ironically, they were forced to use that same technology to clone themselves. The consequence of that response led to a disease which crippled all the organs of the body. Searching desperately for an answer to their dilemma, they came across a planet brimming with life. While performing research on all the creatures below, they came across a being of similar nature to their own.

"They experimented with different means of reproduction using these creatures and found out while analyzing their genetic make-up that these creatures had evolved from them –the aliens. First was understanding and studying the natural resources that caused these creatures to branch out and adapt so quickly, but then they realized that it was in the food that caused them to evolve, or de-evolve. These Neanderthal-creatures had not fully developed in the way that was to their liking. But out of desperation, the Aliens took upon the entire species and used their bodies to reproduce. Thus, taking on the form of the creatures they were breeding with.

"The aliens needed a more evolved being to use. So they waited, and in the meantime continued reproducing and cloning with the new breed of aliens which caused the Neanderthals to become extinct. There has always been a careful eye on the human race rising in evolution, getting closer and closer to the ideal host. Throughout history there has been an involvement between our two races. Entire races have gone missing or have been aided by our alien technology. Just take a look at the Egyptians and the architecture they built. To this day, it is beyond human grasp and assumption as to how the pyramids were truly built. With the technology Aliens possessed, it was easy to manipulate human DNA to the Aliens' liking and convenience. And it was only a matter of time before the human race would go away like the Neanderthals. However, the numbers needed to be just right for the Aliens to repopulate. At one point, humans gained enough complexity to communicate and thus began the negotiations between mankind and alien. I believe it was the Mayans who agreed to sacrifice themselves for the technology they've accumulated, revering Aliens as the gods that they were confused to be. It was also the Mayans who marked the end of the world."

"Wait," interrupted William, "Didn't the Mayans disappear?"

"Yep, they made a deal on behalf of all mankind. A bargain that they themselves could not hold up, for the price of…. What? Lessons on irrigation and farming techniques, architectural simplicities and other technology that would increase their chances of survival? I would say on a more biblical term, they bit the apple of knowledge. According to the Mayan Calendar, December 21st, 2012 is the end. But really, we view it as a beginning. The birth of a new civilization rightfully deserved through the trials and errors and bouts of suffering and misfortune. We want it to be a quick transition, from the previous round of bodies to the more advanced form because by that date, the bodies that the Aliens are using now will expire and our brethren will cease to exist."

"Well good!" exclaimed Will.

"Good?" said Liam, surprised by his reaction.

"Why should I help them? I want to destroy them."

"Don't you see? They are the ones that brought you to life. It was they, who gave you your strength and abilities, that… Oh My God! I don't even think you realize you have or rightly deserve!"

"What in the heck are you talking about?" questioned Will.

"You are the destined one to lead both aliens and humans to a revolution."

"That could also mean that I ultimately decide the fate of both alien and humankind. Who's to say I won't favor in that of humans?"

Liam heaved a frustrated sigh while closing his eyes. He opened them and calmly justified his actions through his continued explanation, "I suppose it's because you and I grew up differently."

"And that's another thing, if you're my clone, how in the heck are you older than me?" demanded Will.

"Ok," began Liam, "The technology I was referring to earlier, those molecular-nanites? Well, during the time of testing and experimenting, we needed a host whose gametes would accept the fusion of these nanites. There were many failures. The gametes were refusing to fuse with the nanites. Then there was a break-through, and that was the pivotal point in the evolution of both races. Your governments worked with our representatives and often times volunteered specimens, often times their own family members, to aid in our experimentation. They did this, thinking it would stifle our time frame and hinder the oncoming apocalypse. But really, it just sped up our research. In return, we would exchange a bit of our own DNA and specimen tissue. Often times, we needed more for the evaluation and abducted random subjects for ourselves."

"You see, that's where I have a problem. Those are people, not subjects or specimen! Why can't you aliens just die out, like any normal species?" questioned William.

"I don't think you understand. We are from the same species. It is our nature to survive, learn and multiply. Humans are way inferior to the intellect and technology our brethren possess."

"Yeah, our _dying _'brethren'. I think you're doing a bang-up job trying to convince me to help your kind," replied Will.

"…_Our _kind. And I'm not trying to convince you to do anything! I want to inform you on the bigger picture. C'mon! If I'm you, and I know me, then I would be most curious as to the meaning of all of this," pointed out Liam.

Regrettably admitting his own feelings out loud, William answered, "Yeah, I am."

"Alright then," retorted Liam before he continued, "Two of the specimens that were found along the way were one Samantha Mulder and the other Dana Scully. Samantha Mulder was a volunteered family member, given up by one within the government. With the aid of your government, we were also successfully able to infiltrate and operate throughout each branch without a panicked disturbance in society. Because of that, we were able to gain access to the DNA records of family within the militaries. Through Bill Scully, we were able to find and use Dana Scully. Of course, we needed two gametes of the opposite sex and none within the same family so we took one Fox Mulder, instead. The way we did it without causing mass hysteria, it was practically poetic."

The direction in which this conversation was going was causing Will to get sick in his stomach. The way Liam was explaining himself made Will want to strangle him so much. "If the aliens have such omnipotent technology, why do this… discreetly?"

"…So that the subversion from mankind to alien-kind goes smoothly. Besides, which do you think is easier, herding a flock of calm sheep or a herd of scattered panicked sheep to the slaughter house?"

"On behalf of all mankind…" Will became so angry that he got up from where he sat and punched Liam square in the face. Liam was knocked backwards to the ground with the force of Will's blow.

"Umph," reacted Liam. His nose was bleeding severely. "Ow," responded Liam, as he sat back up again wiping the blood with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Has anybody ever told you how awful your bedside manner is?" said Will as he sat down again beside Liam.

"No. Do you feel better, now that you got that out of your system?"

"No. Continue," replied Will sternly looking off elsewhere in the distance.

"With great success, we were able to get the gametes of both Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Their gametes were able to receive the nanite adhesion. So on Scully's last abduction and the aid of the human government, we implanted the first successful fertilized ova with nanite adhesion and a chip to activate the maturation and growth of the embryo. Once she came within proximity of one of our ships, the chip received the message and released the embryo.

"You see these nanites are so small that they are on the elemental level. Their sole function is to mimic your DNA and it's early stages of meiosis. The material that these nanites are made of, come from a rare metal that was only found on the Alien's home planet. Having been away from it for sometime they don't have enough fuel to return. So they've focused all their powers and resources on the human species and planet Earth. They were left with no choice but to go ahead with the plan to repopulate Earth.

"Once you were born, the whole world knew. Our hybrids, which you call Super Soldiers, were compelled and attracted to you. You are the only human that can reproduce these nanites naturally. You were literally born with this ability. Sometime after you were born, blood was extracted from you, and from within your blood the nanites were filtered out and your brothers and I were created. I am made up of nothing but nanites, replicating everything down to the last blood cell…"

"Woah, woah, hold on… _brothers?_" Will couldn't believe what it was that he was hearing.

"Yes. Creating Nanite-clones was so much quicker and easier than finding surrogate host mothers. And with time quickly coming to an end, you can see the desperation."

"Wow, right… ok." Will was stunned with how well he was able to accept all this perverted information on his history.

Liam continued, "You were lost to us sometime after the blood extraction. I believe it was one of your government specimen's that had gone rogue… I believe his is name is Jeffery Spender. He must of injected you with a polarized version of the alloy, which upon contact neutralizes the function of all the existing nanites in your body. But I suppose, since you create these nanites naturally, it was only a matter of time before they were reactivated again.

"So the colonization had begun. Our plan was to start with the smaller towns first and convert them since they're the least bit noticeable, and who did I come across… you. You know that buzzing feeling you get sometimes? Well, that's you're nanites reacting to others close by or when you're within beaming range to board spaceships. And that's what I had felt when I came within proximity of you. The rest of the brethren are in different regions of the world, taking care of the same things, which is why I found it odd coming across a younger version of my brother. I read your mind and saw who you were. And ever since then, I honestly haven't been the same. I had felt… love, honesty, compassion… and I searched deeper. I saw where you learned it from; your family. I became so jealous, I wanted to kill you at first, but then I decided to use you to get to your family. So that I, too can enjoy these same experiences.

"So I sent you on your way to find your birth parents. I had dropped you off at the nearest hospital and left you with the phone number of a person that Scully and Mulder would believe and trust right away. What I didn't expect was you getting Walter Skinner, Monica Reyes, John Doggett or Gibson Praise involved. They all have always been a thorn in our sides. But it doesn't matter now, none of it matters."

"What are you talking about now?" wondered Will.

"That alloy… is extremely versatile and by all means peculiar. It is very durable, sensitive to its environment and with the characteristics of a sentient entity. It is also an incredible energy source. Have you ever wondered how it is that you do what you do? How it takes such an exorbitant amount of energy to do so?"

Will replied, "Wondered… yes. I've never understood it... or why, or how. But I'm assuming you're going to explain that to me as well."

"Of course, now that I'm on a roll…"

To which Will rolled his eyes. To him, Liam was nothing short of incredulous. But then Will thought of something that had stewed in the back of his mind. They both responded at the same time saying, "The Tower."

"Woah, that's interesting," remarked Liam, amazed that they had thought about the same thing at the same time.

"… and creepy," replied Will.

"So you _have_ heard of it! Well, it's the last step towards complete transition. It's what activates the nanites in your body and amplifies the abilities that you have. Think of it as a cell phone tower, or a wireless router for using the internet. Only instead of just transmitting information, it transmits energy from the ships. Soon, the ships will no longer be needed and these Towers will do the work instead. They are currently being used as we speak."

A moment of silence passed as a gust of wind blew by their bodies. Will looked out at his home and looked back at Liam. "Why are you helping me? And where are we? Because the last I remember, you destroyed my home and killed my parents."

"And now… we come to the conclusion," responded Liam.

"You cheesiness and pension for the dramatic is unnecessary, insulting and just plain awful," remarked Will bitterly.

"I'm helping you because I respect you and the experiences you've had… I am dying, Will. And I feel like you're the only person I can confess this knowledge to."

"What? You can't die. The nanites in your body are what's keeping you alive, right?"

"Well, you would be correct if you've never come across the Aging Machine."

"_Aging Machine? _But, you haven't changed since the last time I saw you."

"Will… we're in each other's minds right now, as we speak. This is my own visual conception of who I am. You think this is grass we're sitting on? That's why your home looks the way it is, that's why everything feels the way it does. This is how I've been able to enter your parents' minds and experience the things you have. By holding your hand, the nanites connect and transmit signals. In reality, one short second is the equivalence of an eternity in our minds. In this second that we have together, I can communicate and explain everything I know. And in the short amount of time that I have, I had no choice. The Aging Machine was first created to increase our nanite strength and growth, so that we could perform our duties appropriately. However, too much exposure causes the nanites to destroy themselves and lose their strength, thus my rapid aging appearan…"

"…wait a minute," interrupted Will, "In order to connect with my parents they would have had to have nanites in their bodies as well. They're human though, how's that possible? _Are they still alive_?"

"Correction, they _were_ human. I had them turned into," Liam gestured quotation marks with his fingers, "_Super Soldiers_ so that I could connect with them."

"You bastard," said Will as he raised his arm to give Liam another wallop. Quickly remembering what the first hit felt like, Liam raised his arms in defense and shouted, "They're alive! I know where they're at! I had sent a vial of the polarized alloy to Skinner for you to use so that you can be normal and forget your parents and move on with your life!"

William lowered his arm, anger swelled within him to the point where tears were forming in his eyes. "How could you believe I would ever forget them? Where are they now?"

"They're close by. I'll take you to them. Just understand this, our brothers are after me. Ever since I met you, I haven't functioned properly. I had your parents transformed so that I could interact with them as you had. In the meantime, I had been failing on my duties and the aliens and brethren had caught on. They seek to destroy everything I know and have created, including you."

"I don't care. I'll figure it out. Just take me to my parents."

"Ok."


	22. Birth

CHAPTER 22 – Birth

GEORGE WASHINGTON HOSPITAL

WASHINGTON, D.C.

AUGUST 25TH, 2012 5:43 P.M.

Reyes' labor moans could be heard from outside the delivery room. Scully leaned up against the wall and stood outside the door to the waiting room. She nervously held her cell phone against her face waiting for Mulder and Skinner's arrival. Just fifteen minutes ago she managed to convince a hysterical Mulder to hang up and meet her at the hospital. After hearing the news of her son's abduction, staring at the linoleum floor was the only thing keeping her steady. Shocked, her eyes appeared frozen in mid-tears. Mulder was her rock, and now that her foundation had been shaken, she felt nothing but helplessness. All that she could do now was wait.

Seeing Scully through the glass window from within the waiting room, Gibson could see that she was deep in thought. After hearing one side of the conversation, he figured to give her some space for a little while. When the moment felt right, Gibson got up from his chair and walked up to the doorway. He hesitantly approached Scully who evidently appeared distressed. He gently touched her shoulder to gesture his attempt to comfort her.

"Is there anything I can do or get for you?" asked Gibson.

"Um…," said Scully, who's stuffed up nose made it very apparent that she was holding back tears. She bit her lip before she continued, "…No, Gibson… but, thank you."

She quickly looked up at him and rubbed his shoulder, as if acknowledging his intention to be supportive.

"Scully!" spoke Mulder from down the hallway. Skinner was following shortly behind him. Scully turned and saw the two men heading down her direction. She ran up to Mulder who stood still in his tracts. His body was slumped forward and he looked down in defeat. For the first time in her life Scully saw Mulder break down before her. Mulder's eyes were reddened and he was speechless.

Without looking at Scully, Mulder stammered in between upset breaths, "Scully… I… I… lost him…"

"Shh, shh, shh… Oh Mulder… No you didn't," said Scully cupping his face in her hands, forcing his distraught face to look up at her, "…he's just…"

Neither Mulder or Scully could bear to finish the rest of the sentence. Scully hugged Mulder, hiding the few tears that fell from her eyes. She needed to be strong for him; be _his_ rock for once. Mulder's whole lifes' ambition and obsession had stemmed from witnessing his sister's abduction in his youth. Now that he's witnessed his own son ripped from his arms, he was beside himself. She could only imagine how the incident was plaguing him psychologically.

"…I don't think I can handle this…not again," whimpered Mulder in her ear. He closed his eyes tightly as if trying to shut the pain away and a few tears fell onto the back of Scully's shirt.

"I know Mulder… I know," understood Scully, her voice wavering.

Skinner had walked over to where Gibson stood by the entrance to the waiting room and sat down in one of the chairs. Gibson took another chair beside him and they both stared at the patterned floor tiles. Both of them inhaled at their own measure only to exhale the little grief that left their body.

"So," started Skinner, breaking the mood and the silence between them, "I only just found out recently about Reyes going into labor. How is she doing?"

"Well, from the last I've heard she quickly fell into contractions when we arrived here, and like five minutes later Doggett arrived to hold her hand. They were shown into that room and we were shown into this room to wait. Other than that, your guess is probably as good as mine," said Gibson.

"Well, you've got your mind reading abilities, can't you just _hear_ what's going on?" asked Skinner.

"Not really," said Gibson as he picked up his bag to open it. Skinner took a look inside and saw the stone Gibson was referring to and realized what it was.

"Is that the stone that blocks your abilities?"

"Yeah," responded Gibson. Skinner nodded his head in acknowledgement and proceeded to look elsewhere. "Mr. Skinner…" addressed Gibson hesitantly. While Gibson continued his thought, Skinner turned to look at him, "… I only heard half of the conversation of what was going on when Mulder called Scully. And judging by her reactions, not a bit of it looked good. What exactly happened?"

"To be honest, I was in and out of consciousness. All I remember was coming into Harrison's office to confront her on her suspicious activity. I had told her about her being missing in the video footage and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor and woke up feeling warm all over. Will had his hands on my chest and apparently saved my life. What happened after that I'm still trying to remember… I believe what I saw next was an old man walk into the office. He took Will's unconscious body and pushed Mulder using his telekinetic abilities. Then a giant beam of light abducted both the old man and William from within the office and they disappeared. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Everything was happening so quickly, I felt like I didn't have enough time to react to anything.

"I heard Mulder shout out for William only for nothing to respond back. He walked toward the shattered window of the office. I asked him, 'What are you looking for?' and he said, 'Leyla Harrision, she was pushed out the window.' I stood up and walked over to the window to search for her myself and saw nothing on the ground where her body should have been. At this point, Mulder became so frustrated and upset that he started to hyperventilate. When he became inconsolable, I pulled out my cell phone and called Scully for him. She was barely able to calm him down and convince him to come meet her at the hospital. Gibson… I've known Mulder for quite some time. And after working with him for this long, I've never seen him like this. I can only imagine what's going through his mind right now."

* * *

William woke up in a dark room lying on the floor next to an old man he assumed was Liam. Will sat up and looked around the room. No walls appeared visible and smoke seemed to coming from the ceiling. The old-looking Liam groaned on the floor next to him. William turned to Liam and asked, "Where are we?"

In a scruff decaying voice, Liam managed to reply, "We're in my ship. I have it cloaked for the time being, but the longer I use their technology, the quicker our brethren are able to trace the energy source."

"Where are my parents?"

Liam lifted up his right arm and pointed to his left. "The ship is very organic and manipulative. Just say what it is you want in your mind, and the ship complies."

William walked over to a dark corner and willed it to be a room containing his parents. Conveniently, the corner of the room fizzled out into a miniature hallway leading to a laboratory. Will walked through the hallway and into the lab to discover his parents lying awkwardly on two beds.

"Mom? Dad?" Will called out to them. He approached his parents slowly only to discover their lifeless bodies. Frightened, Will gasped for breath and fell to his knees on the floor. He stared at his parents bodies and started to silently sob to himself. Angrily, he yelled out to Liam, "I thought you said that they were alive?"

Liam didn't respond back. Will got up and went to return to the room where Liam was when he was captured by two Super Soldiers. "Argh, no! Ge'off me!"

William struggled as he was thrown into a dark chamber within the ship. He felt a cool familiar wave rush over his body. He recognized the same feeling when he was within proximity of Gibson's stone. Mechanical arms outstretched from the floor and ceiling, searching for Will's arms and legs. The movements of the arms were so quick, that Will had barely enough time to react and dodge them. He was caught and the mechanical arms clenched onto every limb of his body. The vice-grip was starting to dig into the skin, grinding against his bones and cutting off the circulation. Frightened, Will's heart was beating a million times a minute. Helpless, he knew and felt that this was going to be the end of his life.

A yellow electrical current in the form of lightening pulsated through the mechanical arms and into William's body.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" screamed Will as he writhed in pain. Will's bones cracked as they stretched and grew. Will's face became contorted and matured. His voice deepened from a child to that of a young teenager as he continued screaming. His body wished to expire as the pain caused his mind to go blank. Just when the waves of pulsed currents caused his body to convulse and seize, the process became suddenly disrupted by an outside force.

William's teenaged body slumped forward as his body dangled and hung from his restraints. The mechanical arms released their grip and Will collapsed to the floor. An old man appeared through the doorway clinging onto the wall for support, his hand placed on an alien control pad. Liam lifted his hand off of the pad and hobbled over to William. Steam was rising around Will's body from the intense overhaul.

"Will!" called out Liam in a deep gruff voice. William remained still and laid there unconscious. Liam gently knelt down on the ground beside Will and extended his arm to touch Will's shoulder. Before Liam could make contact with Will's body a clone came out of nowhere and lifted William up, dragging him to the side of the room.

The clone then walked over to the alien control pad to manipulate the mechanical arms. The arms quickly outstretched for Liam and clutched his weak body. Liam knew of the oncoming surge that would certainly destroy him and used what energy he had left to call out William's name.

"Will!" panted Liam. The situation seemed futile with the arms powering up for another bout. "WILL!" _~WILL!~_

Will woke up immediately to the sound of the voice that rang through his head. Simultaneously, the charge released through the arms and started electrifying Liam. Will felt like new life was breathed into him and he sat up in place alert to his surroundings. The clone turned to William and started to run towards him. William looked up and in defense held up his hands and used the energy to stop the clone. His clone froze in place, confused by how Will was able to use his powers.

At first William wasn't sure how it was that he was able to use his powers in a neutralized room, but then he remembered all that was said to him from Liam.

"How are you doing that? This room is polarized to purposefully neutralize any nanite function!" shouted the clone.

"I was injected with a metal during my infancy, the same polarizing material that's used to neutralize this room. I'm able to do this because the Aging Machine taught my nanites immunity. I've been vaccinated, unlike you..."

William walked over to his frozen clone and placed his hand on his wrist. At first he wanted to dig through his mind like Liam had done with his, but then he realized something about his clone. His entire body is made up of these nanites. Will mimicked the function of the Aging Machine and focused all his energy on destroying his nanites. From the base of William's touch, the clone's entire body started to change colors. The fleshy pink soon spread into a dark metallic black and within seconds the clone's body fell apart like ash to the ground.

He immediately headed over to the alien control pad and turned off the bolts electrocuting Liam's body. All of a sudden he felt a surge of corrosive pain course through his entire body and it crippled him to the floor. Will's vision blurred and his eyes turned black for a moment while his body grew a few inches; his body aged from a sixteen year old to that of a twenty year old. An enormous amount of pressure swelled within his head causing his nose to bleed. Then the pain left as suddenly as it came. His vision came back and he looked down at his body. A few droplets of blood could be seen on the floor. He took his finger to check his nose and then continued to wipe away the rest of the blood with his hand.

_How was I able to do that? _Will thought to himself.

_Destroying that clone must have caused my polarized-nanites to age my body. Crap._

_~…Will…~_

Hearing Liam's distressing call caused William to get up and walk quickly over to Liam's body. He cradled Liam's decrepit body into his lap and held his hand within his. Will felt what little life there was left in Liam's body and attempted to communicate with him on the best platform…

* * *

"Why did you bring me here?" Liam asked. Liam was his thirty year old self sitting in the Van de Kamp kitchen with eleven year old William. Will stood up against the wall across the table from Liam.

"This is _your _happiest place. Not mine. I no longer have any attachments here anymore. Besides, I need to talk to you. I've got so many questions to ask you."

"Please let me go. I've seen and done so many horrific things. I just want it to end."

"You knew about my birth parents! You knew the history of these aliens! Why are my parents dead?"

"I… believe the reason why they kept me barely alive was so they could track me and destroy the fruits of my aberrations. I… am an abomination. Will… you must adhere to your purpose."

"What?"

"The truth is knowledge. That is what gives you your power. Do not allow yourself to be consumed or lost by too much power or you will surely fall."

"But I don't want this power! How can I possibly save everybody when I can barely save myself? I don't even know where to begin."

"You must decide which is to survive: The first race, or the human race. Before you quickly decide on your answer, you must be well-informed on both sides. You must seek the Source."

"The Source?" asked William as he sat down in the chair across from Liam.

"It contains all the information you can ever want to know. Once inside, you're allowed to ask one question."

"Why one question?"

"Since the answer to any question can be incredibly complex, it takes immeasurable amounts of energy to condense the data and convert it to your form of understanding." Looking at Will, Liam saw that he was confused by his response and continued, "When answering a question there's the short answer and the long answer. For example, if you asked, 'how do I spell _dog_?' The short answer would be _d-o-g_ assuming that you speak fluent English of course. The Source gives you the full break down of spelling in every language known in the universe, along with the understanding each language. So, as you can imagine, that's an enormous amount of data."

"What was your question?" asked William. Liam hesitated for second. His body language gave Will the impression that it was personal question that he felt reluctant to share. Shrugging off his pride, knowing that there was nothing to lose in his last moments of life, he replied to the question.

"Why me?"

"And did it answer your question?" prodded Will.

"It told me enough to understand the gravity of my existence and my purpose in this life. It was so complex that my time separated from The Source has depleted most of my understanding of it."

"How did you come across The Source? Where do I find it?"

Liam shook his head, "I honestly don't remember. It was done extremely early in my physical development. All I know is that it has something to deal with the nanites in our bodies and the alien material that it's made of. I would start there."

Liam yawned in front of William and gently laid his head on the kitchen table. Liam grinned as he slowly closed his eyes…

* * *

Reyes opened her eyes and exhaled a sigh of relief. Doggett stood by her side and held on to her hand as they watched their daughter come into this world. John Doggett's face was flushed and his eyes were moistened as he leaned in and kissed Monica's tear streaked cheek. The nurses scurried here and there cleaning up their newborn. Monica was waiting in baited breath listening to the sound that reassured every mother. Then, she heard the sound she longed to hear and their daughter started crying as they weighed and measured her. She leaned back and both she and Doggett started crying. Moments later, a nurse walked up to the parents carrying their daughter, "Mom… Dad… someone wants to see you…"

The nurse gently handed the baby off to Doggett, who tried unsuccessfully to stop weeping in front of his daughter through stifled sniffles. "Hey baby. Forgive me…" he said walking over to Monica, "but daddy's a mess."

He deftly laid the baby girl on Monica's vacant side of the bed, strategically placing her between her mother and father.

"We're all a mess coming into this world," replied Monica continuing John's thought, "and it's a mess leaving it too. But that doesn't matter. What matters is… now." She said looking at the infant before her.

Smiles and sobs were exchanged between the two parents. Silence and joy filled the air as they stared at their baby. John Doggett felt speechless. He had no idea what to say. He had almost forgotten what it was like to have children again with the loss of his son years ago. But this was a rebirth of all sorts for John; a second chance, a new beginning and perspective on life. Then Monica heard John do something she had never heard him do before. He started humming a soft melody, which eventually turned to singing. Although his voice quivered at times, Reyes managed to make out the song.

"…_Dear Prudence_..."

* * *

_Hey guys, _

_I wanted to apologize for not having written anything in a while. I've been traveling, celebrating my birthday and job hunting. More or less I've been distracted. This is the final chapter to this story. Soon I will be adding another story titled, "Brethren". Be on the lookout for it. It'll be part II to this particular fan-fiction series. I'm so glad you've enjoyed it up to this point. Please feel free to give me your thoughts on the progress of this story thus far. It is inspiring to hear your comments. :)_

_~ Skitzoeinhoven_


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